Word: doored
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
When 50-year-old Umberto Righetti, a pastor of the Evangelical Church, rented a second-floor apartment in the 15th century baronial palace of Fondi (pop. 19,000), 75 miles south of Rome, nobody told him about the door. In his two-room apartment he conducted Protestant religious services twice a week, and soon had a flock of 500. He started a free Bible school for 70 children, some of whom had been attending the local Roman Catholic parochial school. In heavily Catholic Italy all this was distressing news to the parish priest. Don Pietro Santanto-nio. "Go away, leave...
...justice of the peace, bulwarked by the local carabinieri commander, came acalling on Righetti. They explained that in 1950 the owners of the apartment next to Righetti's had obtained exclusive rights to the one stairway leading into the courtyard below, but with the proviso that the door of what was now Righetti's apartment must be sealed off. The owner of Righetti's apartment had in turn sought permission to cut another door into the courtyard, but because the palace was a national monument, the Ministry of Fine Arts in Rome had forbidden it. Now, after...
Righetti refused to go. "A captain does not abandon his ship,'' he declared. "A soldier does not leave the battlefield. I will not abandon my church." The masons came anyway and walled up the door with bricks, shutting Righetti inside...
...third day, a piece of legal paper went up the rope in the basket. It authorized the temporary reopening of his door if Righetti would agree to find new quarters within four months. The imprisoned pastor of Fondi agreed, and the masons hurriedly tore open the bricked-up door to set him free...
Verdict's set is four-walled and solid as any courtroom. Once the half-hour sessions start, Director Byron Paul has little control over proceedings. When time comes for a commercial, a floor manager flings open a door out of camera range and holds up a sign saying "Suspend." At this signal, the appropriate lawyer usually launches into a long-winded objection, which Court Reporter Jim McKay breaks in on, explaining that here is a chance to hear from the sponsor...