Michele Nardi

Michele Nardi was born on November 2, 1850 in Savignano sul Rubicone, Prov. Forli, on the banks of the Rubicon. His family was Roman Catholic and his father was a merchant. At seventeen he was a volunteer soldier under Garibaldi, and participated in the Battle of Mentana (1867) against the pro-papal forces of Napoleon III, receiving two medals for bravery. While studying antiquities in Florence, he met an English family, who took an interest in him. In part his later success in American social circles rested on the fact that he was 'Finely educated and an artist of note' (Nardi, 1916, p. 32) Through these connections, he learned to speak English, and circulated among Americans and British tourists who flocked to Florence. Nardi migrated to the USA in 1873 in search of a better life. With a fellow Italian, he became one of the early promoters of Italian labour on railway works and in charcoal provision. While in Pittsburgh, he acted as Honorary Consul for the Italian community there. On an 1878 return trip to Italy to visit his family, Nardi met an American businessman travelling to demonstrate at the Paris Exhibition. With his linguistic skills, they became friends, and when they returned to the United States were associated businesses such as investment in the Philadelphia stock exchange. Nardi also found that his businessman associate had become a Christian, and spoke to him about Jesus, providing him with a Bible with marked sections of Scripture. Returning to his hotel, Nardi read John 1:12, was convicted and converted. This was followed by a sense of calling to 'leave everything and to follow Jesus'. All of this was in a sense on his own: one result was that, as his wife later wrote, 'Denominationalism did not appeal to him, because he could not understand it.' (Nardi, 1916, p. 20)

Nardi closed his business in Pittsburgh, sold his share portfolio, and withdrew to study the Bible. Walking along 23rd Street in New York, he saw the sign for A. B. Simpson's "Gospel Tabernacle". Here he would sit under the preaching of Simpson, Major Cole, Henry Varley, and some of the most notable preachers and revivalists emerging from the pietist tradition. After receiving the laying on of hands from Simpson, Nardi began to participate in evangelistic meetings where he gave his testimony. He cut an impressive figure, drawing the attention of Civil War notable Sarah Palmer ('Aunt Becky'). He also worked extensively in hospitals, prisons and among the fruit vendors in New York. Attending classes at Simpson's School of Missionary Training, he met Blanche Phillips (1859-1952), also a student at the school. They would later marry.

At this time there was only an Italian Protestant church in New York, presided over by Pastor Antonio Arrighi. Nardi spent his time in personal work and assisting other missions and churches. After they married, the couple travelled between Italian settlements in the eastern United States, particularly in Pittsburgh where they preached to a large number of Italians working on road construction. As a result of his work, a number of Italians began to gather for worship, giving rise to the Italian Presbyterian church in East Liberty, NY. A request from the Presbyterian church to the Waldensian church in Italy saw the sending of a young pastor to oversee the group. The other effect was that many of the Italians who heard his preaching later returned to Italy, bringing the message to family and friends.

Nardi heard about the arrival of many Italians in Chicago, and in 1889 went there to preach. He obtained a room from an Italian migrant in Hell's Half-Acre, the notorious block bounded between State St. and Third Ave., and constructed a premises out of old ceiling boards. He obtained an old organ which served as the church's first musical instrument. Nardi would then walk the streets and invite Italians to attend services, where he would preach. The room soon filled quickly. A number of socially active American Christian women attended the services, and began vocational courses for youth and four children, including daycare. Members of the Bible Society started a Sunday School and a School of Sewing and so the work grew. Among the Italians in the region were a number of Waldensian families, who came to the service and brought with them Italian hymn books. They asked Nardi to come to the north of the city where they were settled and to hold meetings there in the Scandinavian YMCA. Through the Land Commissioner for the Northwestern Railway, with whom Nardi had contact, he obtained a room in which the first Italian church in Chicago was organised, 54 members meeting on 17 April 1892. Nardi concentrated not only on religious work but on social and educational work -- Bible studies, Sunday school, sewing classes, and an English course were all designed to provide often illiterate people with literacy skills and with the capacity of engaging with American society.

About this time, Teofilo Gay was touring the USA raising money for the Waldensian work in Italy. When he arrived in Chicago, he heard about Nardi's work, and made contact with him. He was impressed with the churches which Nardi had commenced, and (having just rejoined the Waldensian church itself after an extensive period in the Methodist Episcopal Church in Italy) was in a position to help with his request for assistance. Nardi asked if the Italian work could send to Italy 'a young man full of the Holy Ghost', to which Gay replied that there was such a person (Filippo Grill) who had been in United States, and who would be capable of returning to take over the work. The Presbyterian Church (particularly the generous Henry Willing of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, with which Gay was no doubt working in terms of his own fundraising) offered to pay the salary of a minister for the Italian congregation. The location was found on West Ohio St, and Filippo Grill took over, with Nardi returning to evangelistic work, such as commencing a third Italian Chicago mission in 1891.

The Italian Presbyterian Church therefore became organised under Grill. The superintendent of the Sunday school was Rosina Balzano, who was the wife of Luigi Francescon. Nardi continued his evangelistic work, occasionally threatened by those who themselves felt threatened by competition for jobs with Italian migrants. He continued to do the same sort of work, however, founding a number of other Presbyterian Italian churches, all of which were also overseen by Waldensian pastors imported from Italy. Nardi would say in later years that he had never seen a church which was more like 'the church of the apostolic days' than the Chicago church. Quite a number of members (presumably such as Michele Colantonio, father to Susanna Colantonio) returned to Italy to preach and found groups of believers. Nardi filled in as a locum for Grill when the latter went back to Italy on at least one occasion. Nardi and his wife themselves went to Italy in order to preach for a number of years. He was very well received by the Waldensian church, and over 5 years there preached in a number of churches and opened new preaching points. Having numbers of contacts from Italian Christian families in the USA, he connected with people such as Mrs. Galli, who was born in San Francisco, but who had returned to Italy with her family. (Nardi, 1916, pp. 61-2). He discovered in Rome that there were opportunities for street work amongst the cafes which were open late at night. He opened an 'evangelical meeting room' just down the road from Santa Maria Maggiore. During the 'Holy Year', there were many pilgrims in Rome, some of whom would enter Nardi's room on the misunderstanding that it was a Catholic outreach. Some eight months was also spent preaching in Naples from, including a month spent on the Island of Capri preaching for a local nobleman. Nardi's ability to present the gospel with simplicity and power made numbers of converts who became members of evangelical churches. Like Simpson, he preached the Second Coming, the 'second blessing' baptism in the Holy Spirit, and the 'whole counsel of God'. Pirazzini noted in a memorial speech that 'It was a revelation to see officers of the army, government officials and college professors coming to hear this simple preacher of the Gospel. Many of his converts are to this day a power in the churches of Rome.' [Nardi 1916, p. 112]

Returning to the United States, Nardi continued itinerant work amongst Italian communities, and eventually became pastor of the Italian works of the Broome Street Tabernacle and Charlton Street Memorial Church. In May 1913, he felt the desire to return to Italy in order to evangelise. In his last sermon at Charlton Street Memorial Church, he predicted that he would not see them again. Giuseppe Petrelli was with the small party which went with him to see him off:

"We had a service on the steamer, then we waited the departure from the pier. It seems now; we were gazing at that fine couple—he, the tall, slender figure, and his beloved wife, the noble Christian blind woman, Mr. Nardi's most powerful human helper. As the steamer went slowly away and we were saluting each other, I thought of those two old people going again to evangelize Italy, and I said to myself, who knows whether we shall see each other again this side of the river; and when the passengers were no longer distinguishable, we departed." (quoted in Nardi, 1916, p. 138)

Reaching Italy, Nardi began to preach at Rapallo, where the leading American lawyer and fellow associate of A. B. Simpson, Philip Mauro had (through an interpreter) built up a small following during his residence there. Nardi also preached along the Riviera and conducting evangelistic meetings. Visiting Rome, and so many people who had been converted by his preaching during his previous tour. Despite a doctor's advice that he had hardening of the arteries, he continued to preach and when he retired to his bed it was only six days before he died on 21 July 1914. In A. F. Schauffler's words, he 'burned himself out'. He was buried in Rapallo, surrounded by evangelical ministers who had known him, and some of his converts. His wife chose a plot near the entrance to the cemetery, which has placed a white marble headstone inscribed with highly visible verses from Rev. 1:5 and 1 John 5:11-12. In death, he continued to preach. A. B. Simpson later exclaimed

Who could forget the way he used to say: "Praise the Lord"? Who could forget his bright, clear face, his pose and attitude eloquent of strength and profound sincerity? He had his heart in his hands and was "a living epistle, known and read of all men." "He was indeed, a Christian hero."

His friend, Agide Pirazzini, likened him in 'spirit' to Moody, or to John Henry Jowett, pastor of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York. Nardi was instrumental in planting more than 60 churches. A memorial service in the Charlton Street Memorial Church (which was established in 1897 by the New York City Society to provide for the welfare of the large Italian migration in the area) drew most of the more significant Protestant Italian leaders in the USA.

His wife, Blanche, moved to Florida, where she wrote the much-quoted biography of her husband, and lived until her death on 13 June 1952. She is buried Woodlawn Memorial Park, in Gotha, Orange County, Florida.

Mark Hutchinson

Sources

http://home.arcor.de/g.capriuolo/g.capriuolo/michele__nardi.htm

Nardi, B., Michele Nardi, the Italian Evangelist-His life and work, B. Nardi, New York, 1916.

Toppi, F., Michele Nardi: Il Moody d'Italia, Rome: ADI Media, 2002.