Enrico Giacomo Marin 

Enrico Marin [or, as he was known in the USA, Henry James Marin] was born on 17 November 1899 into a strict Roman Catholic farming family in Cavaso del Tomba (Treviso). His father was Giacomo Marin, and his mother Angela Memengo. In c. 1918, he emigrated to the United States for work, settling (in 1920) in Redwood City, California. Henry supported himself as a gardener in private homes. In Redwood City, he met and married Elisabetta Nicoli (b. 2 September 1907 in Bergamo), whose father, Domenico Nicoli (d. 1948, Bergamo, while on a visit to his home town, Gaverina Terme), and mother Lucia ('Lucy') had migrated to California in 1920. (Henry's WWII draft card gave as his address 1648 Kentfield Ave, Redwood City, which was his father-in-law's address).  Together they had a number of children (including Daniel, Betty-Lou and Henry Jr [b. 1927 - ]). While in Redwood City, in the midst of what appears to have been family troubles c. 1925, he experienced a "deep and immediate" conversion to the Gospel. Elisabetta also converted, both received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and sought training so as to be equipped and recognized as "Christian workers". There is some indication that she (at least) was involved in Carl F. Henry's Throop Memorial Church in Pasadena (Pasadena Star-News, 9 Apr 1928: 19). By 1947, street directories list him as working for the AGUSA's Servicemen's Department as 'assistant manager' in Mother Layne's Hospitality Home in San Diego, California (Gospel Call of Russia, July 1946: 22), and by 1955 as living on Cerritos Ave, Long Beach, CA. 'Mother Layne' was Bertha Adella nee Basye, the widow of businessman Mahlon E. Layne, founder of what is now known as the Layne Christensen Company. Her home (overseen by the Rattans) focused on caring for servicemen and women in transit, particularly during the Second World War and the Korean conflict. 

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Enrico decided to enter full-time ministry. In May 1949, Ernesto was ordained as a minister of the AGUSA, and supported as a missionary in Italy. Driven by a desire to bring the Gospel to his native region, in 1951 the Marins returned to Cavaso del Tomba, in Treviso as AGUSA missionaries: 'Police reports noted that Marin’s proselytizing had generated social discord, and 540 residents signed a petition protesting his “seductive” and “puritanical,” though well-financed, mission to “disturb the consciences of our children” and to “dishonor our faith.” (Domenico 2005: 634) Their arrival was initially welcomed, but they soon faced dissent and persecution, including (at one point) the mayor of the town cutting off water access to their house. The matter became something of a flash point for the US diplomatic corps in Italy, and led to legal action, Frank Gigliotti copying his report to the American Ambassador on  the 'Violent crowd demonstrations and threats to resort to physical force' which the Marins were experiencing, in addition to the police ban on Pentecostal worship which had been extended 'on the basis of the well-known Buffarini Guidi circular.'  (in Spini, Studi sull'evangelismo italiano, p. 225, 227) 

In 1952, the Marins (now relocated to Ferrara at Via Ariosto 30, and in 1955 moving to Reggio Emilia, at Via Fratelli Cervi) brought the Pentecostal testimony to Reggio Emilia. Although they cared for a group of believers there, a formal community was not established at that time. Shifting to Genoa, in 1951, they established regular contact with the Turin community, providing pastoral care during intervals when the resident pastor, Francesco Toppi, was occupied with organizing the Bible Institute in Rome. March 1952 found them doing delegation and fundraising work in California (Pasadena Independent, 7 March 1952: 27). In May 1953, Elisabetta Marin began collaborating with the Sunday School in Turin. Passenger records indicate trips to Italy in June 1952 (aboard the Ile de France, in June 1952), and returns to the USA July 1951 (on the Mauretania from Le Havre), July 1955 (on the Queen Elizabeth via Cherbourg to New York) and May 1959 (again aboard the Queen Elizabeth). The Pentecostal Evangel reported in May 1956 that Henry and Elizabeth were returning to Italy on the SS Liberte (PE 22 July 1956: 13), where they were projected to take over from missionary Jim Teuton, who had established a Full Gospel Hospitality Home in Bagnoli for NATO forces (Christ's Ambassadors Herald, October 1956: 8). Bagnoli remained their address through 1957 and 1958.

In 1959, after Francesco Toppi moved to Rome to lead the Bible Institute full-time, the Marins were briefly placed in charge of the Turin church following the departure of the Gemelli couple. Their first tenure lasted approximately one year, during which Enrico often travelled back to the Veneto to oversee work there. They then returned to the USA.

Following the tenure of Vito Tambone, Enrico Marin returned from the USA to resume leadership of the Turin community. (Redwood City Tribune, 1 Apr 1961: 4) Before returning to Italy from a trip to the USA, Henry visited a church in California comprised of believers of Piedmontese origin. His reports on the work in Turin inspired them to collect 3 million Lire for the construction of a local place of worship. Due to his frequent travels and itinerant ministry, Enrico entrusted the leadership of the Turin church to Silvano Arcangeli. Meanwhile, Elisabetta served as a youth monitor in Turin. Enrico was instrumental in organizing the first-ever Pentecostal youth camp in Italy (and likely Europe) at Cerrione (Biella). He led the camp alongside Philip Wiles, with help from other ministers like Vitulli and Perna. In 1964, Enrico participated in a meeting at Cerrione with other leaders (Nesta, Vitulli, Bellone, etc.) to officially designate Antonio Santoro as the new pastor of the Turin community. In 1958 their address was in Naples; in the early 1960s, they gave their contact addresses as Corso Lione in Torino and as Via dei Bruzi in Rome (the address of the ADI headquarters), and from 1967 as Via dei Caprilli in Livorno.  On their return to California, they listed their address as in Alhambra. 

In his later years, Enrico Marin continued his itinerant ministry as an Evangelist, frequently returning to visit the Turin church. He is remembered by the community as a simple and active man who was deeply zealous, often speaking about the "Return of Christ" and encouraging believers to seek the Baptism of the Holy Spirit at the conclusion of services. 

Henry was listed as superannuated from December 1968, but continued ministry in Italy at least up until 1978. He died on 23 Nov. 1988 in Costa Mesa, California. He was buried at Harbor Lawn, Mount Olive Memorial Park. Elizabeth lived for some time in Pasadena, dying on 4 May 1993. 

Works

Visione missionaria. [Italian] $c / [Enrico Giacomo Marin] [Italy : s.n., 1974] [Flower Pentecostal Heritage Centre]

Sources

Ancestry.com

Newspapers.com

Domenico, Roy Palmer, "For The Cause of Christ Here in Italy": America's Protestant Challenge in Italy and the Cultural Ambiguity of the Cold War,' Diplomatic History, 29.4 (September 2005): 625-654.

Deceased Ministers Files, and Digital Archives, Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, Springfield MO.

Gargano, Angelo, et al (eds), Pentecoste a Torino: da Via Germanasca a Via Spalato (Torino: for the authors, 2006)

Spini, Giorgio, Studi sull'evangelismo italiano tra Otto e Novecento (Torino: Claudiana, 1994)