Giovanni 'John' DE Benedetto

Giovanni Michelangelo Di Benedetto [aka De Benedetto] was born in Monterosso Almo, prov. Ragusa, Sicilia, on 14 November 1881, the son of Giuseppe di Benedetto and his wife Innocenza.

Di Benedetto was educated in Catholic colleges and seminary in Italy; ordained to the Roman priesthood (1904) [his obituary also suggests he took a doctoral degree]; Facoltà Valdese in Firenze (1908), Bloomfield Theological Seminary, NJ. His last Waldensian charge was in Chieti, when his service seems to have transferred to the Evangelization Committee, and so to international commitments. In 1909 he spent time in the Island of Malt Mission of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

In 1910, the Reid Memorial Guild in Baltimore was looking for an Italian missioner to work among Italian migrants in and around Reid Memorial Church, which had been suffering marked decline due to the change in population around its neighbourhood [Reynolds 1913: 112-13]. On 5 November 1910 Di Benedetto arrived in the USA on the SS Königin Luise; He was appointed missioner to the Reid Memorial Guild House in Baltimore MD, and then in 1914 was attached to the Italian mission of Second Presbyterian Church, Baltimore. He was ordained in 1916 by the Presbytery of Baltimore.

In 1919 he married Mary Edna Kildow (b. 1888, Kingsville, West Virginia- 3 Jun 1990, Baltimore MD), daughter of a newspaperman, John Kildow (and his wife Minnie), in whose paper she helped as a child, setting type and reading proofs. She held a press card at the age of 12. In 1912 she moved to Baltimore to attend the Presbyterian Training School for Church social Workers. She was thus a deaconness operating in Reid Memorial circles when Giovanni arrived as a missioner attached to the Church. They had a daughter, Mary Carolyn [b. c. 1926, m1. Kenneth Edward Krieg, Baltimore; m2. Yopp, of Parkville].

In late 1925 he accepted the charge of the Italian Church of the Saviour, Baltimore, from 1926-1947.

In 1944 De Benedetto was among a long list of petitioners who requested that the Governor of New York pardon Morris Schappes, who had been convicted as a result of the 1940 Rapp-Condert investigation into subversive activity in public schools.

He formally retired in 1947, but both he and Edna remained active in voluntary roles.

From 1923 he also ran a community service at the McKim Community centre, in collaboration with the Society of Friends, and also ran Italian language services in other Presbyterian churches (such as Abbot Memorial and Dundalk Presbyterian).

They lived at 904 E. Madison St, then at 1118 E. Monument St., Baltimore, MD; and in retirement at 1843 White Oak Ave, Parkville.

De Benedetto died in 1977, and was buried at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens, Timonium, Baltimore.

Family:

• Mary Carolyn m1. Kenneth Edward Krieg (2 Jun 1919-6 Aug 1976, s. of John Krieg and Lilly Mae nee Wolfe); m2. Carter?

  • Janet m. Brookhart

  • Jeanne m. Montgomery

  • Martha

  • Margaret

Sources:

Ancestry.com

newspapers.com

Reynolds, William, A brief history of the First Presbyterian Church of Baltimore (Baltimore, 1913).