Italia Luca
November 6, 1917 - July 31, 2004
Italia Luca’s story is not ordinary. She was born in 1917, the fourth child, third daughter of Maria Busa and Antonio Luca, who married in northeastern Italy in 1913, emigrating to Marblehead, Wisconsin. The first child died. Italia wrote later, in 1993,
"What a traumatic day in September 1926: Our parents had died within a year, and we were living with our brother and two uncles; Madelene and I became wards of the state. We were taken to St. Rose Orphanage in Milwaukee (Italia was not yet nine). But the day blossomed into an ecstatic future!"
The Daughters of Charity, she said, were “motherly, caring, and at the same time, strict.” St. Rose soon became her home.
Discipline had its priority in caring for one hundred twenty girls from six to sixteen years of age, coming from all different family backgrounds. But discipline took a back seat when illness, internal problems, and even recreation demanded attention.
Antonio Luca, Maria Busa, Italia, in Wisconsin, circa 1921 She speaks of the blessing of these Daughters of Charity having access to doctors and nurses from their hospital across the street, and of the older girls helping with the younger ones. As for schooling,
All classes were taught by the sisters themselves until high school. Then we took the bus to an archdiocesan high school, returning to the orphanage after school. Bus passes were purchased with our own allowance. The arts were encouraged and fostered. We could participate in band, orchestra, private music lessons, piano, dance, chorus, and painting. The harmonica band had different types of harmonicas, musical bottles, washboards, and even toilet plungers for sound effects! We traveled around the city entertaining, giving concerts at conventions and banquets. We put on plays for other students and relatives. All this taught us responsibility, accountability, endurance, and cooperation. We forged lifelong friendships.
The orphanage had an “angel” who sent her chauffeur in a limousine to transport Italia among about fifteen “who showed talent in dance,” to a studio for lessons. At St. Rose the girls were taught the fine points of propriety: Good grooming, manners, how to answer the phone or the door, how to walk, sit, make a bed, cook a meal. In 1939, they went to the Chicago World’s Fair, each having made her own dress. Their program was rounded out with team sports, Saturday matinee at the cinema, and trips to the zoo. Sister M. Hildegarde reminisced,
A rich young lady could never have had the large family we had, to love and be loved, nor had our experiences, having her talents and spiritual gifts developed from childhood to maturity. The sisters became the mothers, fathers, and brothers we lost or had to leave behind.
Among the Daughters of Charity at St. Rose was a sister of Sister M. Catherine Delaney, a Dominican in New Orleans. Thus it was that ten-year-old Italia met “Mother Catherine,” and kept in “constant” touch until she was seventeen. With permission of the priest in charge, Italia accepted Mother Catherine’s invitation to “Come and see,“ finishing high school as a postulant.
Sister M. Hildegarde as a young nun, Dominican front campus, New Orleans, after first vows, 1937. As Sister Mary Hildegarde (named for her special friend, Sr. Hilda, DC), she chose Mary’s “Fiat!” (Be it done) for the inscription in her ring. She worked very hard, and she was happy. After two years teaching grades, she devoted the rest of her life to St. Mary’s Dominican High School, holding back nothing. In 1944 she was the first nun graduate of L.S.U. College of Education, where she earned a B.M.Ed. with high honors. In 1960 she returned for her M.Ed. in administration, and later became principal. Her list of achievements, awards and honors is long, but the greatest testimonial is in the hearts of those whose lives she touched; God alone has kept that account.
She had a gift for creating family wherever she was. The bonding, the spirit of the band at Dominican was powerful, at the very heart of the life of the school. Many band students came on scholarship. Many joined the sisterhood. So many are still loyal to the Dominican charism, and sent daughters who send daughters to their Alma Mater. To this day, the spirit lives, and the love shared by the women of Dominican, coming now from every direction and growing from very diverse roots, continues. No small part of this can be traced to the boundless energy of this remarkable, joyful, dedicated woman. May her spirit live on, increase, and continue to grow!
Sisters Delia McDonald and Mary Hilary with Sister Mary Hildegarde. The two younger sisters finished Dominican High School in 1955, and have dedicated their lives to their Alma Mater and to the archdiocesan band program.
