Aniello Mataluni 

Aniello Mataluni was born at Montesarchio (Varoni), provincia Benevento on 12 February 1885 the son of Angelo Mataluni, farmer, and Antonietta Ciavattone. He was the seventh of nine children, though only he and his older sister, Marta, survived childhood. He completed his primary education (licenza elementare), which was considered a significant achievement for someone from a farming family at that time. The family maintained a decent economic status through traditional agriculture and the profitable cultivation and processing of hemp (canapa).

In his youth, Mataluni briefly travelled to America with his father around 1900 in search of work, staying for about 11 months (There is an Ellis Island record for an Angelo Mataluni from Naples, arriving on the La Touraine out of Le Havre in September 1900. His nominated occupation is 'barber' and destination Brooklyn NY). While there, he experienced a desire to enter an evangelical church, but his fervently Catholic father prevented him, reportedly because the church "had no bells".

in 1907 Mataluni married Caterina Barbato. The couple had four surviving daughters: Antonietta (b. 1908), Angelina (b. 1913), Silvia (b. 1915), and Amalia (b. 1921), and they also lost a son named Angelo. Both Aniello and Caterina were deeply religious Catholics; Caterina’s father was a sacristan, and Aniello served as the diligent secretary of a Catholic confraternity. Mataluni had once aspired to become a priest and a preacher, but his father discouraged him due to financial needs.

Mataluni’s path toward evangelical faith was influenced by two key events. Around two months before his conversion, his dying father refused to bless his daughters with a crucifix, instead pointing to the sky, a gesture Mataluni interpreted as the first true "evangelical" sign that blessing comes solely from God. Mataluni later recounted a vision, three months after his conversion, in which his deceased father confirmed that he had "taken the right path".

The immediate trigger for his conversion came in October 1925, when his brother-in-law, Aniello D’Angelo (who had married Pellegrina, Caterina Barbato's sister), a barber, returned from America, having converted to the Gospel seven months previously. His witness among the family networks of their town led to gatherings of 20-30 people in the Mataluni home. D'Angelo, gifted Mataluni a New Testament. Mataluni was immediately struck by the biblical accounts of adult baptism in a river. He accepted the message of the Gospel on 7 March 1926.  Just three days later, on 10 March 1926, Mataluni—a heavy pipe smoker who consumed 6 kg of tobacco in six months—miraculously stopped smoking because the smoke began to make him feel unwell. 

The spiritual fervour rapidly spread within his family. On 17 May 1926, his sister Marta was the first to receive the "baptism with the Holy Spirit," followed shortly thereafter by Aniello and his daughter Antonietta. Mataluni was baptized in a private outdoor pool on his land, as an attempt to perform a public river baptism was prevented by the police. His wife, Caterina, converted approximately six months after him, around September 1926.

When Aniello D’Angelo returned to America, Mataluni was entrusted with caring for the nascent group of 30 believers in Montesarchio. The group also received instruction from Ettore Strappaveccia (who visited regularly, almost monthly, from Rome) and occasionally from De Matteis of Caserta, whose teachings laid the biblical and theological foundations for the new believers. After pledging to God that he would build a house of worship if he gathered fifty souls, Mataluni fulfilled his promise. In 1928, he built the first evangelical Pentecostal church in Valle Caudina/Beneventano at his own expense in Contrada Campizze, Montesarchio. He funded the construction by using all his savings, selling two 'moggi' of land, and obtaining the crucial support of his daughter Antonietta, who donated her substantial dowry (eleven thousand lire) to the effort.

By 1929, the Montesarchio church was established, and Mataluni began to formalize his evangelistic and pastoral ministry beyond the Valle Caudina. His missionary journeys, undertaken primarily during the winter when agricultural work was slow, began in December 1929. He supported this work entirely through his own finances, largely derived from the sale of hemp.

His ministry focused initially on the provinces of Campobasso (Ferrazzano, Campobasso) and Alta Irpinia, including Guardia Lombardi, Andretta, Nusco, Montella, Conza della Campania, and S. Andrea di Conza. Mataluni was characterized by his reliance on visions (he was a 'uomo di visioni'), which he frequently received and used for guidance and teaching, often compensating for his limited theological training. His missions resulted in significant conversions, such as the strategic conversion of the Capuano family in Cervinara. Giuseppe Capuano and his brothers followed Mataluni’s lead, spreading the Gospel throughout Irpinia and later abroad through emigration, directly impacting the expansion of the Christian-evangelical testimony.

During his tours, he saw many conversions and miraculous events. At Rotondi, in 1927, he was dragged toward a well by a mob led by the local priest (Don Giuseppe Vele), but four assailants miraculously could not lift him. In Guardia Lombardi, he baptized 104 people in a single day, although this event led to him being falsely accused of manslaughter after an elderly woman died following the baptism (charges were annulled by a general amnesty). His work also led to the strategic conversion of the Capuano family in Cervinara, who became influential evangelists in Irpinia and abroad.

The work faced serious government opposition. In 1931, the Montesarchio church was briefly closed. Mataluni circumvented this by obtaining a mandate on 1 April 1931 from Ettore Strappaveccia (a legally recognised minister) that authorised him to preside over functions, allowing the church to reopen by 29 August 1931.

However, the persecution intensified with the issuance of the discriminatory Buffarini Guidi circular on 9 April 1935, which deemed Pentecostal worship "contrary to social order and harmful to the physical and mental integrity of the race". Consequently, the church Mataluni built in Montesarchio was closed around 10 April 1935, and remained shut for about ten years. During this decade, Mataluni reduced his outward ministry, and the church was forced to hold secret, clandestine meetings in remote locations. Despite the severe restrictions, Mataluni maintained high moral integrity, earning the local police nickname "O' Signorone" (The Gentleman).

After the war, the Montesarchio church was able to reopen around 1946. In a major step for the movement, Mataluni attended the Naples 'national' convention from 16 to 18 August 1947, where he adhered to the establishment of the Assemblea di Dio in Italia (ADI). He continued his missionary work, expanding into nearby areas like Castelpoto, Ponte, Calsalduni, and Bucciano, and maintained tours until around 1957, reaching the provinces of Potenza and Foggia.

In his later years, Mataluni was widely respected as a spiritual authority, or "oracle of God," by the churches in the Caudine region. He died peacefully on 16 February 1966, around eight in the morning. The church building he constructed in Montesarchio was later donated by his daughters to the ADI and remains a place of worship. Mataluni’s life is considered fundamental to the substance and rapid growth of  Pentecostalism in the Beneventano and Valle Caudina regions, where his personal faith, evangelistic drive, and organizational efforts established a crucial spiritual lineage.

Sources

Ancestry.com

Mauriello, Paolo, Aniello Mataluni (Aversa: EPA Media, 2004).