LV resident to take part in canonization of ancestor

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2000 | 10:07 a.m.

A local resident is in Rome this week preparing for a ceremony in which his great, great, great uncle will become a saint.

Blessed Father Alberico Crescitelli is to be canonized by Pope John Paul II as Saint Father Alberico Crescitelli on Sunday.

Tony Scott, his wife, Lois, and daughter Annette will attend a Mass and dinner Saturday in Crescitelli's hometown of Altavilla Irpina. While in Rome, the Scotts will attend Mass on Monday celebrated by the pope in his private chapel.

"It is the highest honor any Catholic can receive," said family friend Albert Tecci. Tecci's son, Salvatore, is the godson of Tony Scott. "We can't keep from getting teary eyed."

Crescitelli will be recognized for his missionary work with poor children in China from 1888 to his death in 1900, when he was tortured and beheaded by Chinese revolutionaries during the Boxer Rebellion. His body was cut into pieces and thrown into the river.

"What they wanted to do was wipe out all traces of Catholicism," Tecci said. "He's one of the last martyrs who was actually tortured and killed in the way they were tortured and killed in the days of Nero."

Fifty years later Pope Pius XII declared Crescitelli a martyr. He was beatified Feb. 18, 1951.

Scott and his brother, Donald, also of Las Vegas, are descendants of Crescitelli through their late mother, Rose Crescitelli Scott.