New Orleans woman inspiration for altar celebration
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A ITALIAN-AMERICAN restaurant owner was the inspiration behind a religious altar created in Elgin.
Parishioners brought a wide array of food to Greyfriars Convent last week to lay it on the St Joseph altar. The food was then donated to various good causes around the area, such as the Moray Foodbank.
The tradition of dedicating food to St Joseph, who was the human father of Jesus, hails from Sicily. And this is where Irene DiPietro comes into the story.
Irene runs Irene’s Cuisine, which is something of an institution in her home city of New Orleans.
The sprightly 71-year-old moved to the USA during her teens but, in deference to her Sicilian heritage, she famously builds a St Joseph altar inside her restaurant every year.
She’s also an old friend of the four nuns who once lived and worked in New Orleans, but have now brought Greyfriars Convent back to life after coming to Elgin two years ago.
In fact, she’s so much of a friend she once hosted what she describes as "old-style Italian block party" that spilled out of the restaurant into the street and raised $150,000 (£102,000) for the Dominican order.
Speaking during her week-long holiday in Moray, Irene said she recently met up again with the sisters in Nashville, Tennessee, the US headquarters of the Dominican order.
The sisters were there on their annual leave, while Irene was part of a group visiting from New Orleans.
Irene said: "I told them how much I’d missed them since they left New Orleans and they told me they were now working in Scotland.
"They also said a group of their parishioners had been inspired after seeing photographs of St Joseph altars to have a go at making one themselves.
"When I heard that, I immediately decided to
invite myself over so I could help out.
"The people here are so wonderful and friendly. It seems such a lovely place and the convent is so old and beautiful. I had tears in my eyes thinking about everything last night."
The tradition of St Joseph altars dates back to the Middle Ages, when people prayed to the saint to save them from a famine.
The altar at Greyfriars was decked out last week with a wide variety of different foodstuffs, including decorative flat breads inscribed with biblical themes and messages that were baked by the church’s youth group.
In addition, there were floral tributes in the form of tulips – said to be amongst the world’s finest –
delivered specially from Amsterdam by a florist friend of Irene.
However, the altar had a distinctly Scottish feel thanks to local strawberries, shortbread and Saltire flags.
Parish member Karen Wiles said: "People in America have added to the original tradition and made it their own after it was brought over from Sicily. Therefore, we’ve also decided to add our own twist to it."
