St. Lucy marking 80th anniversary Wednesday

CAMPBELL

When Mary Carano first arrived in Campbell from Italy in 1954, the then-2-year-old St. Lucy Church – the city’s enclave of Italian Catholics – across the street from her house was a tiny slice of her homeland.

“It was beautiful,” Carano said of the church. “It was like I had come home.”

Carano is still attending St. Lucy, and will be one of many longtime parishioners celebrating the Feast of St. Lucy and the church’s 80th anniversary Wednesday night.

The anniversary and feast will include a celebration of the Holy Liturgy at the church, as well as a dinner next door at the Palermo Center.

Though the church’s building was constructed in 1952, the body of believers grew out of the previously existing Italian Catholic Society, and formally organized and had their first Mass under the name St. Lucy Church in 1937.

While the feast day and the anniversary are enough reason to celebrate, the congregants have another major reason to be thankful: After a five-year closure, Mass is once again being held in St. Lucy’s. The first Mass since the closure took place last weekend.

Read more about the matter in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.