[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 120 (Thursday, September 11, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1738-E1739]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SISTER MARGHERITA MARCHIONE: HONORED AS ACADEMIAN AND HUMANITARIAN

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. RODNEY P. FRELINGHUYSEN

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 11, 1997

  Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to recognize Sister 
Margherita Marchione on being the 1997 recipient of the Religious 
Teachers Filippini Humanitarian Award at the Villa Walsh Academy Gala 
this Saturday evening hosted by comedian Joe Piscopo. I have spoken 
before the House floor about the work of Sister Margherita, she is one 
of New Jersey's great academic and humanitarian treasures. Although 
academia is her calling, her special talent is building bridges between 
different peoples through greater understanding and knowledge.
  Born in the town of Little Ferry, NJ, in 1922, Sister Margherita 
became a member of the Filippini Sisters teaching order in 1941. A 
Fulbright Scholar, she received her own schooling at Georgian Court 
College in Lakewood, where she earned a B.A. and continued her 
education at Columbia University where she gained her M.A. and a Ph.D. 
Aside from the numerous books she has authored, including the acclaimed 
``L'imagine testa'' and the 1986 biography of Lucy Filippini, ``From 
the Land of the Etruscans,'' Sister Margherita serves as treasurer of 
the Villa Walsh Academy in Morris Township and is professor emerita of 
Italian Language and Literature at Farleigh Dickinson University in 
Madison. She also lectures throughout the United States and abroad, 
including numerous radio and television appearances.
  During the past few years, Sister Margherita has devoted much of her 
time to illuminating the efforts of Pope Pius XII and thousands of 
Italian Catholics to save Italian Jews and other persecuted peoples 
from Nazi concentration camps during World War II. In 1995, she 
organized an event to mark Holocaust Rescuers in Italy Day, held at 
Villa Walsh, which debuted the documentary film ``Debt of Honor'' 
narrated by New Jersey resident Alan Alda. Sister Margherita assisted 
``Debt of Honor'' producer Sy Rotter in collecting the memories of 
Italy's Jewish survivors.
  Her latest literary effort, ``Yours Is a Precious Witness: Memoirs of 
Jews and Catholics in Wartime Italy,'' recognizes the extraordinary 
acts of courage exhibited by ordinary people during the Second World 
War. It is a little known fact that, although 67 percent of European 
Jews were killed by the Axis Powers during the war, more than 80 
percent of Italy's Jews were saved. As the New World Press wrote, 
``Yours Is a Precious Witness'' is helping to promote ``better 
understanding and deeper relations between Catholics and Jews.'' In 
addition, the editors of the Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter 
praised her book for reversing their previously derogatory view of Pope 
Pius XII.

[[Page E1739]]

  As a member of the World Who's Who of Women, Sister Margherita 
Marchione's associations, accomplishments, awards and honors are too 
numerous to mention. However, I do want to personally congratulate 
Sister Margherita on receiving the Religious Teachers Filippini 
Humanitarian Award and have this House join me in honoring her 
collective work on behalf of promoting greater understanding among the 
human race.

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