Talk:Carmel Henry Carfora

Untitled
A short history

The Austrian Nobleman, who was raised to the Episcopate by Bishop Arnold Harris Mathew (pictured below and to the right) on June 29, 1913 was known to the world as Rudolph Francis Edward St. Patrick Alphonsus Ghislain de Gramont Hamilton de Lorraine-Brabant, Prince de Landas Berghes et de Rache, Duc de St. Winock. The British Foreign Office arranged for his departure from England in September of 1914 to prevent his being interned during the war as an "enemy alien." Such an act would have been highly embarrassing since the Prince was related to nearly every royal house in Europe.

He came to America and, as was common in those days for many Old Catholic clergymen in America, was licensed to function in the Episcopal Church. He assisted in the consecration of Hiram Richard Hulse as the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Cuba on January 12, 1915 as is record in the Episcopal Church Annual (c.f. 1953 Annual.)

Bishop Rudolph de Landas Berghes took up residence at St. Dunstan's Abbey, Waukegan, Illinois and raised Abbot William H. F. Brothers to the episcopacy on October 3, 1916. The following day he consecrated Carmel Henry Carfora as a bishop of the Old Roman Catholic Church of America. He also with Bishop Carfora consecrated Stanislaus Mickiewicz, a former Polish National Catholic priest, in 1917.

Two years later Bishop de Landas Berghes resigned and retired to an Augustinian monastery in Villanova, Pennsylvania where he was reconciled to the Holy See and where he died on November 17, 1920.

Bishop Carfora had originally come from Naples,Italy as a Capuchin Franciscan priest to work with the poor Italian immigrants in the New York City area, but found his work hampered by undue restrictions from his superiors and so left the Roman communion. He established several parishes in the United States and, being a volatile man, often embroiled himself in quarrels and squabbles concerning jurisdiction and church polity with his clergy. It seems that instead of taking the time and patience to work out difficulties, he would discover men with whom he thought he could work better and so would ordain or consecrate them bishops to supply clergy to his latest endeavors, often ignoring earlier efforts and the men he had ordained. Bishop Carfora was never averse to doing publicly that which tact would require be done privately and as a result the whole world would be a bemused spectator at what was essentially a "family affair." This gave rise to many speculations about his work and the Old Catholic Church here in the United States which no doubt contributed to many of the problems encountered by Old Catholicism in its efforts to establish itself in the new country.

One of his most fruitful associations was that formed with Francis Xavier Resch. Carfora consecrated Francis Resch as bishop on December 8, 1940 who eventually became the archbishop of the Old Catholic Church of America. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hliguori1 (talk • contribs) 09:44, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Luigi Lops founded Youngstown's St. Rocco
Carfora is not mentioned as part of the St. Rocco schism. But, Jan Tichy is a common link between Carfora and Luigi Lops.

Tichy performed confirmations in Carfora's West Virginia church.

Lops was an assistant priest at St. Anthony's Roman Catholic parish, one of the largest Italian Catholic parishes in Youngstown, Ohio. After the pastor died, Bishop Ignatius Frederick Horstmann of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland assigned another priest as pastor instead of promoting Lops. This led to a split in the congregation; Lops and several hundred members of St. Anthony's formed the independent St. Rocco parish. In 1908, Lops and the congregation were excommunicated by Horstmann, who also excommunicated Tichy in 1902. For some time the new church fared well but interest waned and Lops deserted his congregation after they failed to pay him his work. In 1908, according to the The Washington Times, a short time after a bullet, "which buried itself in a wall close to his [Lops'] head", was fired through a window at Lops in an assassination attempt, Tichy revealed that Lops survived a second attempt, this time by strychnine poisoning, after he drank sacramental wine laced with highly toxic strychnine. The New Castle News printed that according to The Youngstown Telegram, following St. Rocco congregation's financial troubles, Lops attempted to reconcile with the Roman Catholic Church but failed to comply with some of the stipulations and was not reinstated into the Roman Catholic Church. While still living in Youngstown, Lops became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) in New Castle, Pennsylvania. He then moved from Youngstown to New Castle were he was a MEC missionary and then moved to South Sharon were he was placed in charge of an MEC mission. In 1909, New Castle News wrote that Lops' wife's guardian filed for a divorce about eight months after the 13-years-old girl-bride from Youngstown was allegedly forced into an illegal marriage with Lops in the MEC church in New Castle. From 1910, according to James Divita, in Indianapolis Italians, Lops was an MEC missionary in Indianapolis, Indiana. "In 1912, Lops incorporated an Old Catholic diocese in Indianapolis to make his work more attractive to Italians." BoBoMisiu (talk) 01:47, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

Real name?
Carfora had more than one name. Henry Alfonso Carfora reported, on his World War I Selective Service System draft registration card, that he was born in Naples, Italy, on August 27, 1878; was married; lived in Chicago where he was a bishop employed by Old Roman Catholic Diocese. Henry Alfonso Carfora again registered in the World War II draft. What was his real name? --BoBoMisiu (talk) 01:53, 18 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Records indicate his name at birth was Henry Alfonso Mary Carfora. He entered the Order of Friars Minor in 1894 and thereafter assumed the name Carmel. AMDG4 (talk) 03:57, 26 June 2019 (UTC)

"ARCHBISHOP CARMELO HENRY ALFONSO MARIA CARFORA" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ARCHBISHOP_CARMELO_HENRY_ALFONSO_MARIA_CARFORA&redirect=no ARCHBISHOP CARMELO HENRY ALFONSO MARIA CARFORA] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at until a consensus is reached. Veverve (talk) 12:43, 14 February 2023 (UTC)