Community Corner
Photo Gallery: Our Lady of Grace Feast Preparations
This year's Italian Feast and Festival honoring Madonna Della DiFesa is scheduled for Sept. 8 through 11.
About 25 volunteers gathered in the basement of on Sept. 6 to cut, dice, and chop vegetables in preparation of the annual Italian Feast & Festival in honor of La Madonna Della DiFesa, scheduled to begin tonight.
Head cook Carol Cambio, who has been volunteering for 12 years with the feast, explained the Italian specialties are all homemade and cooked on the church grounds. The menu is extensive, from Italian favorites like sausage and peppers, macaroni and meatballs, and calamari fried squid, to American favorites including doughboys and hamburgers.
Cambio noted most of the meats are from Fed-Rick Veal company in Providence, and added the feast uses up to 280 pounds of hamburger.
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Several local businesses will be donating food to the feast, including Silvio's, Pastryland, and Ciao Italia, all of Johnston.
In addition to the large assortment of desserts avaiable, there will also be ice cream from Winsor Dairy.
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The story of Madonna Della DiFesa dates back to 1896 in the village of Cascalenda, Italy, an entry in this week's church bulletin explains.
Four men are said to have had the same dream, of the Virgin Mary directing them to mee at a tree on a hilltop called "La Difesa" and dig under its roots.
According to the dream, the men were told they would find three human skeletons, the remains of a chapel, an altar, a marble inscription, and a metal box holding a statue of the Virgin Mary.
On Holy Thursday, the three men found each other at the tree and discovered all of the items — except for the metal box.
After several other apparently miraculous events, Church authorities looked into them and later determined that they were authentic.
In 1898, the local bishop gave approval for the construction of a church in the area.
About 10 years later, a group of residents from Cascalenda immigrated to America and founded the Madonna Della DiFesa Society, which grew into the Our Lady of Grace parish.
This year's feast is scheduled to run tonight through Sunday, Sept. 11, beginning at 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Watch JohnstonPatch for daily schedules of events at the Our Lady of Grace feast.
