Don Antonio Grieco (1872-1949)

Don Antonio Grieco (1872-1949), priest, teacher and man of letters

On the 66th anniversary of his death, 20 October 2015

The 20 October 1949 Don Antonio Grieco, the Buccinese parish priest, died in Rome. He was born in Buccino on 17 July 1872, son of Francesco and Filomena Ciaffone. Graduated from secondary school, he was admitted to the Diocesan Seminary in S. Andrea di Conza and a 24 years, the 16 July 1896, he was ordained a priest by the bishop of Campagna.

In 1899 it was assigned to the Buccinese parish of S. Giovanni Gerosolimitano, which lasted until shortly before his death: at his own expense he had many restoration works carried out in the church, including the construction of some premises in which for many years he also conducted private school activities. Indeed, the cultured Don Antonio Grieco from 1902 he was also a talented teacher and even before the First World War he was a teacher at the private middle school directed in Buccino by the pharmacist Giuseppe Lordi; from 1925 al 1929 he taught literary subjects in the Country Seminary and subsequently taught for a long time, privately and for free, to Buccino. Among his numerous pupils there were also the martyr Quintino Di Vona and the late prof. Marcello Gigante.

His literary and poetic activity was also very extensive: his works, published and unedited, they totaled about 200 works (theatrical works, sonnets, novella, political orations, religious lyrics), which were published in various magazines of the time (The Literary Journal of Milan, Calabria Cattolica, The Column of S. Antonino in Campagna).

We owe it to him, Moreover, the epigraph affixed to the monument to the fallen of Buccino:

HERE IN THE SMILE OF GLORY

AFTER THE GREAT WAR 1915-18

OUR DEAD RELIVE

ADDITING THE HOMELAND TO THE IMMEMORS

AND TO ALL ONE LAW

THE DUTY

His brother, Ernesto, he was author in 1959 of a historical monograph on Buccino and his nephew, Umberto, he was for a long time deputy prefect of Milan.

The 9 novembre 1965, with a specific decree of the Ministry of Public Education, the Middle School of Buccino was named after him.

Emanuele Catone

Bibliography:

G. Arduino, Sixty years ago Don Antonio Grieco died, in "La Voce di Buccino", year 2009.

E. Grieco, Buccino - Antica Volcei, Salerno 1959.