Word: ippolita
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1930-1939
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Padre" Abbate's people believe that he was not born of mortal parents but formed from "the ashes of Jesus Christ." Once he crowned the small daughter of one of his Italian-born parishioners, Mrs. Grace Ippolita, as "the Virgin Mary," instructing his followers to worship her. In 1923 the "Celestial Messenger" was convicted of ravishing a small girl, was adjudged insane. Convicted later of two more attacks, Abbate was occasionally in jail but always turned loose because of his original insanity. In the Elgin State Hospital (Illinois), where he spent two years, clad in clerical garb, Abbate became...