Oreste Coppini

Swiss-Italian holiness pastor (1871, Firenze-?) and member of early pentecostal circles in Florence.

In September 1914, Alexander Boddy's Magazine Confidence noted the following:

The first Italian Pentecostal paper will (D. V. ) be shortly issued in Florence by the first Assembly of Italian Pentecostal Brethren. The Editor and Publisher of the paper is Signor Oreste Coppini, and the title of the paper will be "The Midnight Cry". For at least a year it will be necessary to upon voluntary contributions of foreign Pentecostal brethren, and also on the personal self-sacrifice of the Brethren in Florence. Those who have this great work in Italy made on their hearts can send their gifts to Signor Oreste Coppini, Via Villani 24, Florence, Italy. For reference and information regarding Sig. Oreste Coppini, apply to Anton B. Reuss, Esq., Hedwystr 21, Zurich, Switzerland, and to Rev. Ignazi Rivera [sic], Via Giano della Bella 19, Florence.

Little else is known about Coppini, apart from the connections implied by the reference. Ignazio Rivera was pastor of the First Baptist church of Florence, and there was an artist by the name of 'Oreste Coppini' who was born in Florence in 1871, and who lived in Locarno. If the figures are the same, then this would be continuous with the involvement of numbers Italian artists with experiential Christianity in the early twentieth century (e.g. Vito Melodia). An Oreste Coppini also wrote a number of books, including Alfa Spirituale: Pensieri e Sentenze date ad un ignaro, and Ascensione.

In 1915, G. R. Polman noted that Coppini had represented fiorentino pentecostals at the Pentecostal convention in Zurich for the first time. He and his wife had only 'recently come into the experience of the Pentecostal blessing', and oversaw a 'little Assembly of earnest Christians, of whom some have received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, with the sign of tongues. Brother Coppini and his wife are spiritual people...' (Confidence, May 1915, p. 92)

Howard Culbertson, who worked as a Nazarene Missionary in Italy from 1974, depicts the Coppinis (who were important in the formation of a number of early Nazarene figures, such as Alfredo Del Rosso) as Swiss Baptist holiness pastors: this occludes their attachment to early pentecostalism as an extension of post-World War II American holiness missions. While they had indeed experienced Baptism in the Holy Spirit in Switzerland (and were perhaps connected to Anton Reuss and his circle in Zurich) it is clear that what the Coppinis thought they were doing was participating in the outpouring of the Spirit with signs following, signs which might include glossolalia. It is clear that this is also what Alfredo Del Rosso thought he was doing under their influence in the period after World War I. (Confidence, Jan-March 1919; http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/rosso2.htm).

Coppini's career continues a theme by which early Italian pentecostals (such as Vito Melodia and Michele Nardi) may be seen as emerging from aesthetic and artistic communities (a trend also seen in the nineteenth century Catholic Apostolic community). Their mobility, openness to anglophone culture and influences, and need to live 'on the edge' of Italian culture, are clear factors in the receipt of new religious influences.

Mark Hutchinson

Sources:

Confidence magazine.

Culbertson, Howard, Alfredo Del Rosso, ebook, online (https://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/rossoe.pdf, accessed 17 May 2018).

Plüss, Jean-Daniel, "Pentecostals between Keeping their Identity and Adapting to Change: A Study of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Switzerland 1907–2015", Journal of the European Pentecostal Theological Association 36:1 (2016): 3-16, DOI: 10.1080/18124461.2015.1130471

Sikart, "Pittore e scultore italiano. Dal 1901 residente Locarno, dove fu attivo soprattutto come scultore", http://www.sikart.ch/KuenstlerInnen.aspx?id=4024547&lng=de