Luigi Terragnoli

Luigi 'Louis' Terragnoli was born 27 August 1887, in Prezza, Aquila, Italy, the son of Sabatino Terragnoli and M. Rosaria Bolea.

He sailed for America in 1902 (though the actual date is based on a later memory - there is no Ellis Island record for his entry. There is a Domenico Terragnoli from Prezza listed as arriving in 1902 on the SS Patria, who listed his cousin, the 44 year old Francesco Terragnoli in Pittsburgh, PA, as contact).

Terragnoli was converted in Chicago in 1907 'while working under a boxcar in a freight yard after hearing his first Gospel message'. He was particularly moved by gospel music. Later that year he was baptised in the Holy Spirit in the Assemblea Cristiana. An able song leader, he was soon used by the Church in street ministry and in developing the worship life of the Assemblea. He delighted in musical groups in churches and used this method for winning converts in pioneer works, encouraging the formation of bands, orchestras, and choirs.

In April of 1912 Terragnoli accompanied Luigi Francescon and Giacomo Lombardi to Italy, to visit the nascent churches and evangelize among their countrymen. Having departed on the Carpathia on 11 April 1912, the journey was abruptly interrupted, because they were forced to stop to give aid to the survivors of the Titanic, which sank in the night between 14 and 15 April 1912. After having provided the first aid to the survivors, and having given them most of their clothes, they reboarded the Carpathia, returned to the port of New York with the survivors and then left once again for Italy. Between May and August Francescon was in Rome, Sulmona and Gissi and evangelized a family in Cagliari. In the month of September he visited Avezzano, Patrica (Roma), Rome, Montecatini, and La Spezia. All of these had nascent groups except Rome and La Spezia. At the end of September 1912 Francescon left again for Brazil, and Terragnoli stayed in Italy (possibly visiting Prezza and his home province of L'Aquila), returning to through Boston the Canopic (arriving on 30 Jan 1913).

In 1914 Terragnoli was living in Murray, between Niagara Falls and Rochester, and it was there that on 5 January 1914, in New York, he married Maria Mattia 'Mattie' Piedemonte (b. 1893, New York - 1965), the daughter of Francesco Piedemonte and Maria Giovanna Ramaglia. Together they would have ten children, including: Paul Sabatino (23 May 1915, Chicago–2003, Buffalo, NY); James F. (1917–2002); John (1919–2009, Buffalo, NY); Anna (1925–1972, New York); Esther J. (1929–1993); Joel P. (1931–2012, Amherst, NY); Louis Jr (1933–1999); Rossina, Diana, and Ruth.

In the same year, Terragnoli partnered with Massimiliano Tosetto and Michele Palma in producing the first hymn book for the Italian pentecostal movement. In 1919, the second edition of Inni e Salmi Spirituali was issued. Michele Palma's son Alfred remembered that this was in part written around kitchen table in the second floor apartment at 2034 Rice Street in Chicago: '… each had pen and paper and their own mandolin. They hinted at the motifs, wrote the music and "wrote the text into poetry"...' (Toppi, Tosetto, p. 67)

In July 1916 Terragnoli went to Sao Paolo, Brazil to join Luigi Francescon in the mission which was expanding there. Bongiovanni reports it as a faith venture to Brazil without fare, visa, or knowledge of any person or place, but his application for a passport names Francescon and provides his address in Sao Paolo. His journey reportedly resulted in real impact - he often preached three times daily, and some of the thousands of converts who had responded during his tour bade him buon viaggio when he left. He would be remembered among the Brazilian churches as the first major contributor of hymns. The next year (1917) finds him working as a plumber's helper in the employ of the Niagara Falls Heating Engineering Company, and living at 515 19th Ave, Niagara Falls, NY. In 1926 he planted a church among a few families in Buffalo, NY, where nearly two decades before Pietro Ottolini had experienced very considerable opposition from the local Baptist Italian Mission (then pastored by Ariel Bellondi, q.v.). (Nicandro 2016: 154) This church became the Hudson St. Christian Church.

A talented and musical autodidact, Terragnoli authored a number of Italian hymns, and ran evangelistic campaigns in the eastern and central US States, and in Canada. Particular points of ministry included Gary, Indiana; Chicago, Illinois; Brooklyn, New York; Niagara Falls, New York; and Des Moines, Iowa. In 1928, he is recorded as assisting Massimiliano Tosetto as pastor of the Walnut Street Christian Church in Niagara Falls, playing a significant part in erecting the first church building at 631-19th St. His main influence, however, was through the church in Buffalo which, having commenced with a small number of families grew to over 400 members. Despite being purchased during the Depression, the church was debt free by the time of Terragnoli's death in 1947. Like many of the founding generation, Terragnoli put everything into the ministry, retaining his secular employment almost until the end of his life. In 1930 he was working as a plumber, and living at 303 Eagle St., Buffalo, NY. By 1942 they had moved to 19 Fargo St., and in 1947 the family was living at 174 Breckenridge St, Buffalo, NY.

Terragnoli died suddenly, aged only 59, shortly after an evangelistic trip to Florida, on 12 June 1947 in Buffalo, New York. He was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, NY.

Sources:

Ancestry.com

Bongiovanni, Guy, Pioneers of the Faith (Farrel, PA: Sound Ministries, 1971).

Francescon, Luigi, 'Fedele Testimonianza. 1942-1952', Chicago, Archivio storico ADI, Roma 1952.

Newspapers.com

Nicandro, Patrizia, Origini delle storie del movimento pentecostale italiano. Le Assemblee di Dio in Italia, PhD Thesis, University of Bergamo, 2016.

Terragnoli, Joel P., Obituary, https://www.amigone.com/obituaries/Joel-P-Terragnoli?obId=12443222

Toppi, Francesco, Luigi Francescon (1866-1964). Antesignano del risveglio pentecostale Evangelico Italiano (Roma: Adi-Media, 1997)

Toppi, Francesco, Massimiliano Tosetto (1877-1948) (Roma: ADI-media, 1998).

Walnut Avenue Christian Church, 100th Anniversary Brochure, 7-9 October 2016.