Rudolph Lista, 20, was on the elevator at C.F. Rumpp’s, a leather goods business in Philadelphia. The doors opened and there stood the firm’s new hire, Louise Carozza. She was 17.
“That is the girl I’m going to marry,” Rudolph thought.
He went home that night and told his sister, Eva, the same thing.
A couple of short years later, Rudolph and Louise did get married. He was 22 and she was 19. The ceremony was at Our Lady of the Angels Church at 50th and Master streets in West Philadelphia.
For their 71st wedding anniversary, on Sept. 24, they had their marriage blessed by Bishop Dennis Sullivan and Father Adam Cichoski, who is part time parochial vicar at their current parish, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Lindenwold. It was done via Zoom.
For the occasion, Rudolph made sure the screen was positioned so an image of the Blessed Mother was visible on the wall behind them. He had made his living as a commercial artist, and he created the image from a picture his own father had given him — it was a picture his father kept folded in his wallet while fighting in World War I.
In past years, the couple had their marriage blessed at the Camden Diocese’s Annual Wedding Anniversary Mass, one of many church events cancelled this year because of the coronavirus. Rudolph and Louise, now in their 90s, have not been out of their condominium in Stratford for months.
When Louise said she wished that their marriage could be blessed by the bishop, Linda LaBella, the couple’s oldest child, contacted the chancery, and Bishop Sullivan readily agreed. In fact, watching a video of the occasion, it’s hard to tell who is taking greater pleasure in the event, the smiling couple in the company of their children, or the bishop, who has often remarked on the joy he takes in pastoral work.
The Zoom technology seemed to add, rather than detract, from the intimacy of the occasion.
“This is a first for me. I’ve never done this before. Thanks be to God for this technology,” the bishop said to the Listas as he watched their children coming into and out of the viewing area, and they saw into his fifth floor office.
“Oh, that’s Father Adam!” Louise said at the start of the 13-minute call, as Father Cichoski sat down next to the bishop.
“He was here for lunch, and I said, ‘Some of your parishioners are going to be here on Zoom,’” Bishop Sullivan explained.
Rudolph and Louise, whose parents came to America from Italy, are first generation Americans. They got married the day after Bruce Springsteen was born, and while Vic Damone had the number one song in the country, “You’re Breaking My Heart.” “White Heat,” starring James Cagney, was playing in movie theaters.
The couple’s family and a close friend were present for their anniversary celebration and the bishop’s blessing.
The Listas have five daughters and a son. They had to mourn the death of their two other sons: Michael was killed by a drunk driver when he was 4, and Rudy died of liver cancer in 2011 when he was 57.
The couple have 13 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
“The blessings that you have bestowed upon each other and your family have also been signs of God’s love,” Bishop Sullivan told them, “We can’t see God, but we can see God in how we love one another. No better expression of love than married life, the love between husband and wife.”
Such a bond, Father Cichoski added, is a gift not only to the couple but to others and the parish as well.
“Do you wear rings?” the bishop asked before the blessing. Louise answered that she couldn’t wear her ring anymore because of rheumatoid arthritis.
“Just touch each other’s hands,” the bishop said.
They did. The priests raised their hands in blessing.
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