Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church of Youngstown Ohio

Abstract

The following thesis examines the behavior of the Italian American parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church of Youngstown, Ohio. The central argument of the thesis illustrates that Mount Carmel's Italian American community ameliorated their lives in the United States without relinquishing the core beliefs of their predecessors from South Italy, specifically the Mezzogiorno region. Moreover, the formation and ensuing success of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church resulted from the parishioners' reliance on the cultural values of the Old Country as the cornerstone of a freshly built environment in la Merica. The author analyzed over several illuminating sources for this thesis. Primary sources include Parish Records, privately printed Parish Manuscripts, Diocesan Records and Correspondence, Oral Interviews, Newspapers, Tax Duplicates, Sanborn Maps, and Insurance Appraisals. Numerous secondary sources were also consulted which are listed appropriately in the bibliography of this thesis.