Pietro Ottolini

Pietro Giovanni Martino Ottolini was born in Pescaglia, prov. Lucca, Italy, in 1872, the son of Francesco Ottolini and Maria nee Luchesi. He migrated to the USA, arriving in New York on 27 August 1891 and in Chicago on Sept. 11,1891. He took out American citizenship in 1898.

In February 1892, Ottolini married Emma nee Pacini (b. 1887, Lunata, prov. Lucca), the daughter of Giuseppe and Emma, who also migrated and were living with them in 1900, Together they had nine children (including Anna, 1894; Adina, 1896; Angelina, 1897; Giuseppe, 1899, Elena, 1904; Samuel 1907, and Emilio 1916).

In 1900, under the influence of Giuseppe Beretta (who gave his wife, Emma, a bible), he converted from Catholicism and became a member of Filippo Grill's First Italian Presbyterian Church.

The Ottolini's lived in the highly Italian 23rd Precinct of Chicago, in the middle of a Lucchese community -- across the road from the Menconi family and almost next door to Giacomo Bartolomei, who would also play an important role in Emma's conversion. At the time he gave his profession as 'sculptor', though in later census returns he would list himself as a mosaic worker. By the time of Emilio's birth, he simply listed himself as an 'evangelico', which is probably the Italian midwife's mistaken attempt to translate 'evangelist' ('evangelista' and 'evangelical' can mean the same thing in Italian). They later moved to 148 North Peoria.

In April 1907 Luigi Francescon met William H. Durham (1873-1912) who had received the Holy Spirit at Los Angeles the previous year. On the 25th of August of the same year, he was baptised in the Holy Spirit. On the 9th and 10th of September, Pietro Ottolini too received baptism of the Holy Spirit. The experience of Pentecostal faith spread through those influenced under Durham to the Italian Presbyterian church of Chicago. On the 15th of September 1907 the Christian Assembly of Chicago become the first Italian Pentecostal Church (at number 1139 W. Grand Avenue). The services were opened by Pietro Ottolini and the homily was given by Luigi Francescon. Some converted Italian emigrants returned to Italy and set to work evangelising and spreading the Gospel. Amongst the most famous names of the Italian movement, the following come to mind: Luigi Francescon, Pietro Ottolini, Giacomo Lombardi, Lucia Menna, Umberto Gazzeri and Giuseppe Petrelli. A few years afterwards, Pietro Menconi became the first formal pastor of the church, and remained so until his accidental death in 1936. His passing, Ottolini's family were to note, was deeply felt by Ottolini.

After a period as elder, helping consolidate the Chicago church, Ottolini first began work among Italians in New York state. He traveled to Holley, New York, in 1908 and helped to establish pentecostal churches among the Italian communities in Buffalo, Holley, and New York City. These were built around groups of people who were already Protestant, or who had been evangelized by Protestant churches. Among those converted were Silvio Margadonna and Giuseppe Petrelli. On 30 August, after having spent some time back in Chicago running the Church, he travelled to St Louis MO (where Nardi had also worked) with Giovanni Perou. After a number of months, he was convinced that he had a leading to bring his family to St Louis. He returned to Chicago and helped the family pack, and then left them to follow him in the company of Luigi Francescon (who was travelling via St Louis to California) Together with Perou, Erutti, Domenica Sanazaro and others, they formed 'The Italian Evangelical Church' on 'The Hill' in St Louis. It was here, after his missionary period, that Ottolini would spend much of the rest of his life supporting the churches that he had established.

The early period was difficult. There was considerable opposition from among the Catholic community, which extended assault in the streets, and to service invasions by people who would tear up bibles and disrupt proceedings while a 'multitude' of others blocked exits outside in the street [Ottolini, p. 14]. With few members, further, the church provided no support, and there was only a little coming from Chicago. For some time they lived on a sort of wild lettuce which they picked from the slopes of a nearby hill. As in answer, the other churches began to respond. 'From Holley, NY, came an abundance of beans and from Los Angeles came five gallons of olive oil: this supply of food fed us for a considerable length of time.' [Ottolini, p. 14] Increasing numbers of the congregation, such as Erutti, were now baptised in the Spirit, and though a small group Ottolini felt that after two years in St Louis, they could continue their missionary work. On April 30, 1910 they left for Chicago, en route to Italy to replace Giacomo Lombardi.

He would spend four years (1910-1914) there with his family, mainly in northern Italy in Milan and Luserna San Giovanni, but also (in 1910) in the South in Gissi (with Lucia Menna), and from late 1913 to Matera and Ginosa, where he had been invited by Giuseppina Zollo (herself then returning to the USA). In August 1910 he had opened a meeting place in Milan. He wrote:

Our mission in Milan began in August. The Ciesch family were the first to believe. In this city I visited various protestant churches. I had a good opportunity to spread the pentecostal work among various denominations, but with limited success.

This community became isolated from the rest of the movement around the doctrines of the Spirit in the regeneration of the believer and the experience of the Baptism of the Spirit. Mario Lucini's return to Milan in 1927 saw the establishment of a new group in communion with the general pentecostal movement in Italy. During Ottolini's first trip, the St Louis community was of assistance in send, for example, Vincenzo Castelli, to his home town of Casal Cermelli, north of Genoa in prov. Alessandria. Among those converted was Francesco Testa. Ottolini would need to return to various towns in order to establish peace and authority to the often untrained local pastors. During several of these, such as with Zollo in Ginosa and Palagianello, he describes 'some of the great operations (Evil spirits cast out in the name of Jesus)' and healings. On Palm Sunday 1914, 38 people were baptised in Ginosa.

With the outbreak of War on 1 August, Ottolini was keen to return to the USA, and through a generous gift from Francesco Plavan in Luserna, was able to bring his entire family, and the minor Ernesto Genrè-Bert, back together. Ottolini arrived back in New York on 29 Oct 1914 aboard the San Giorgio. On his return, Ottolini discovered that while the numbers of believers had grown rapidly, the original passion for seeking the Baptism of the Holy Spirit had declined. He caused tensions in the movement when he began to preach that those without the Holy Spirit as manifested in the gifts, one could not be considered to be saved. (Leonard Erutti, op. cit., pag. 19). This seemed to some to be an extension of the 'Jesus only' heresy which Durhamites were fighting in the formation of the Assemblies of God in Hot Springs, Ark, that year. Francescon encouraged Ottolini to reject the doctrine, which seemed to move towards anti-trinitarianism. When he continued to preach in this way, a letter over Francescon's signature was circulated, informing the churches in association with Chicago that Ottolini was no longer a recognised elder. Ottolini held, it was charged, ‘che la vita di Cristo viene manifestata in noi quando si riceve la promessa dello Spirito Santo, e non quando si riceve Gesù Cristo per fede, o in altre parole diceva che si riceve Gesù Cristo quando si riceve il dono dello Spirito Santo’ [That the life of Christ becomes manifest in the us when one receives the promise of the Holy Spirit, not when one receives Jesus Christ by faith, or in other words, that one receives Jesus Christ when one receives the gift the Holy Spirit'] (Assemblea Cristiana di Chicago, 1917] Lombardi was sent to the communities in Italy in order to ensure that the point went home, and that proper doctrine was being taught.

Ottolini himself, however, was not standing still, revisiting Europe in October-November 1915, 1919-1920, 1923-1924 and 1946-47. He also continued to travel to Italian evangelical works, moreover: 'It was amazing to see how the Pentecostal work among the Italians was rapidly spreading. In fact, in every major city in the United States there was a representation.' From 1917, however, he had settled his family permanently in St Louis. The Church he returned to still had no permanent meeting place, and the 'faithful' were but few. 'We started all over again', with house meetings (particularly in the house of Domenica Sanazaro). A gift of land by new converts, Pietro and Maria Calvi, enabled them to build the first permanent Italian Evangelical Church building at 2109 Edwards St. With Leonard Erutti as associate pastor, Ottolini was now free to travel, knowing that the Church was in good hands, and indeed it continued to grow. By 1928, the old building was too small, and a new one had to be built (at considerable sacrifice), opening in 1929.

Their family settled and married in to the extensive Italian community in St Louis. Their daughter, Ines Ann married Luigi Parisotto in Milan, and their children settled in an around St Louis. Argia Ada (1896-1959), Giuseppe (1899-1981) and Samuel (1907-1995) married into the Genrè-Bert family (Ernest, Amandina and Adele). Angelina (1897-1990) married Leonardo Erutti (1889-1982), one of Ottolini's first converts in St Louis. Elena (1905-1982) married Louis Sanazaro. Doris (1920-1990) married Charles James Puricelli. Emil (1916-1995) married Ida Mastrangelo of Holley, NY, from family connections in that earlier centre of Ottolini's work, and also settled in St Louis.

On 6 April 1947, his wife Emma, died in St Louis, only a few months after Ottolini returned from a long period on mission in Italy. She died at 7am, and at 10am, he stood in the pulpit and preached the sermon. Ottolini remained pastor of the St Louis Italian Evangelical Church 'on the Hill' until his death at the age of 93 in 1962, after which he was succeeded by his associate pastor and son-in-law, Leonard Erutti.

Mark Hutchinson

Sources:

Assemblea Cristiana di Chicago, Lettera circolare, 19 marzo 1917, quoted in M. Beltrami, Verità in testimonianza al sovvertimento dell’opera dello Spirito Santo, Milano 1947, p. 5, Archivio ADI, Roma

"Biography of Peter Ottolini," personal papers of Anthony DeGregorio, Du Plessis Center Archives, Fuller Theological Seminary Library, Pasadena, CA

Bracco, Roberto, Il Risveglio Pentecostale in Italia (n.d.)

DeCaro, L., Our Heritage: The Christian Church of North America (1977)

Ottolini, Pietro, The Life and Mission of Peter Ottolini (n.d.)

Ottolini, Pietro, Storia dell' Opera Italiana (1945)