Vincenzo Di Francesca

Vincenzo Di Francesca (1888–1966) was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1951 until his death. However, he is most known for his long struggle to become a member of the LDS Church that is documented in the short LDS Church film How Rare A Possession.

Francesca was raised in Italy, where he studied religion. He went to New York City in 1909, where he became a Methodist and graduated from Knox College of New York in November 1909. He then became a pastor.

In February of 1910, Viccenzo went to visit a sick pastor in New York City. On his way toward the sick pastor’s home as he was walking down Broadstreet, a strong wind moved the pages of an open book lying on a barrel which grabbed his attention. He picked up the book and noticed that it did not have a cover or title page. The first several pages were damaged. He quickly scanned through the book and noticed unknown names to him such as Alma, Mosiah, Mormon, Moroni, and Lamanites. The only name he recognized in the book was Isaiah. He felt that it was a religious text.

After his meeting with the sick pastor, he went to a local drugstore and bought denatured alcohol and cotton balls to clean the damaged pages of the book. He went to his apartment and spent the entire day reading the book. Here are the words of his experience: “For several hours I read the remainder of the pages, which gave me light and knowledge and left me charmed to think of the source from which this fresh revelation had come. I read and reread, twice and twice again, and I found it fit to say that the book was a fifth gospel of the Redeemer. At the end of the day, I locked the door of my room, knelt with the book in my hands, and read chapter ten of the book of Moroni. I prayed to God, the Eternal Father, in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, to tell me if the book were of God, if it were good and true, and if I should mix its words with the words of the four gospels in my preaching. I felt my body become cold as the wind from the sea. Then my heart began to palpitate, and a feeling of gladness, as of finding something precious and extraordinary, bore consolation to my soul and left me with a joy that human language cannot find words to describe. I had received the assurance that God had answered my prayer and that the book was of greatest benefit to me and to all who would listen to its words.”

Vicenzo began to preach the teachings from the book during his sermons. He drew large crowds to his sermons preaching new doctrine found in the book. However, his fellow pastors soon found that they preferred Vicenzo’s sermons to the rest of the pastors, so they grew angry. On Christmas Eve of 1910, the committee of censure held a disciplinary council against Vicenzo. They told him to burn the book he had found. He responded with the following words: “I will not burn the book because of the fear of God. I have asked him if it were true, and my prayer was answered affirmatively and absolutely, which I feel again in my soul as I defend his cause now.”

He was brought again to the committee of censure in 1914 when he was again asked to burn the book. He again responded: “I can not deny the words of the book nor burn it, since in so doing I would offend God. I looked forward with joy to the time when the church to which the book belonged would be made known to me and I could become part of it.” After saying these words, the council stripped him of his position as pastor of the church.

During the First World War, Francesca served in the Italian Army. In May 1930, Vicenzo was looking in a French dictionary for some information, and came across the entry “Mormon.” He read the entry which told him that the Mormon Church had been established in 1830 and that this church operated a University at Provo (BYU). He wrote to the university president asking for information about the book and its missing pages. He received an answer two weeks later telling him that his letter had been passed on to the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who at the time was President Heber J. Grant.

On June 16, 1930, President Heber J. Grant answered his letter and sent a copy of the Book of Mormon in Italian. He told Vicenzo that he would send his request to know more to Elder John A. Widtsoe who was the President of the European Mission at the time. A few days later, Elder Widtsoe wrote to Vicenzo sending him a pamphlet that contained the story of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the gold plates, and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. He finally learned of the origins of the book he found on that barrel of ashes so many years ago.

On June 5, 1932, Elder Widtsoe came to Naples to baptize Vicenzo, but a revolution between the Fascists and anti-Fascists had broken out in Sicily, and the police at Palermo refused to let him leave the island. The following year, Elder Widtsoe asked him to translate the Joseph Smith pamphlet into Italian and to have 1,000 copies published. He took his translation to a printer, Joseph Gussio, who took the material to a Catholic bishop. The bishop ordered the printer to destroy the material. He brought suit against the printer, but only received from the court an order for the printer to return the original booklet.

When Elder Widtsoe was released as president of the mission in 1934, he started correspondence with Elder Joseph F. Merrill, who succeeded him. He arranged to send Vicenzo the Millennial Star, which he received until 1940 when World War II interrupted the subscription.

In January 1937, Elder Richard R. Lyman, successor to President Merrill, wrote that he and Elder Hugh B. Brown would be in Rome on a certain day. They said that Vicenzo could meet them there and be baptized. However, the letter was delayed because of war conditions, and he did not receive it in time.

From 1940 until 1949, he as cut off from all news of the Church, but he remained a faithful follower and preached the gospel.

On February 13, 1949, He sent a letter to Elder Widtsoe at Church headquarters in Salt Lake City. Elder Widtsoe answered his letter on October 3, 1950, explaining that he had been in Norway. He responded that he desired to be baptized. Elder Widtsoe asked President Samuel E. Bringhurst of the Swiss-Austrian Mission to go to Sicily to baptize Vicenzo.

On January 18, 1951, President Bringhurst arrived on the island to baptized Vicenzo at Imerese. This was the first baptism performed in Sicily for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When Vicenzo came up out of the water, he said, “I have prayed daily for many years for this moment. My dear Brother and Sister Bringhurst—you can hardly imagine how sweet those words brother and sister are to me. I say them with a feeling of affection and appreciation that I have never before experienced, for I know that you have led me through the door that will eventually bring me back to my Heavenly Father, if I am faithful.”

On April 28, 1956, I entered the temple at Bern and received his endowment (a higher ordinance much like baptism). After entering the temple at Bern he said, “At last, to be in the presence of my Heavenly Father! I felt that God’s promise had been fully fulfilled—the day had come indeed when the book would be no more unknown to me and I would be able to enjoy the effects of my faith.”

Vicenzo di Francesca died 18 November 1966 at Gesta Gratten (Palermo), Italy

In 1965, Ortho R. Fairbanks was in Italy doing a study of sculpture and was able to obtain a copy of Francesca's story which he then gave to the Improvement Era, which printed it initially.

References

• "The Saga of the Di Francesca Story", Ensign, Sep. 1989, p. 73.