Sacramento County
Biographies
REV. FATHER DOMINIC TAVERNA
REV. FATHER DOMINIC TAVERNA.—Intimately connected with the history of the Catholic Church
in northern California is the Rev. Father Dominic Taverna, who is an earnest, intelligent and indefatigable
worker, now serving as the pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Sacramento,
an Italian parish of some 1,000 families. Father Taverna
is a man of scholarly attainments, the master of several languages, and is most
earnest and consecrated in his work. His birth occurred on August 18,
1876, at Castellazzo, Bormida,
in the province of Alessandria,
Italy. He
made his classics at the College of the Silesian Fathers of Don Basco in Turino and his
philosophy and theology at the Seminary of Allessandria,
being ordained on December 22, 1900, by Bishop Joseph Capecci. He
served as assistant pastor for five years. Then, in answer to the
invitation of Bishop Grace of Sacramento to become a
missionary for Italian congregations in the Sacramento
diocese, he and Father Mela
responded. Father Taverna spent a few months
studying English at the Silesian College
in London and then came to California
in 1906, serving as assistant at various places until September, 1909, when he
was appointed pastor at Sutter Creek. He remained there nine years, and
his district embraced from within thirteen miles of Sacramento
to the Nevada state line. On
the death of Father Mela in October, 1918, he was
appointed on November 25, 1918, to succeed him as pastor of St. Mary’s Church,
and since then he has built the parochial residence.
St.
Mary’s was started by Father Mela in 1905. In
1906 the property at N and Ninth Streets was purchased and church opened
there. In 1914 the present property at seventh and T Streets was bought
and the church moved hither. Rev. Mela was a priest
of wide Christian spirit and died a martyr to his duty during the flu
epidemic. While assisting at Placerville,
Father Taverna was appointed chaplain at Folsom
Prison for two years and prepared about twenty prisoners for the Sacrament of
Confirmation, and for the first time in the history of the institution Bishop
Grace came to the prison to administer the Sacrament. In 1920 Father Taverna was sent to Italy
by Bishop Grace to represent him at the "Visit ad Limina,"
and in consequence of his appointment he had the honor of a private audience
with Pope Benedict XV. Rev. Taverna is a
fourth-degree Knight of Columbus.
Note
that Alessandria/Allessandria is spelled two
different ways in this piece and I typed it the way it was shown, not knowing
if one was incorrect. Mrp
Transcribed 7-16-07
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County,
California With Biographical Sketches, Page 962. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2007 Marilyn R. Pankey.