OUR HISTORY

The Work of God in our community of Pomigliano is a wonderful plan that was born overseas, in Canada, starting from the conversion of an entire family unit. It is the story of lives transformed by the grace of God, the testimony of surprising plots, the living story of a wonderful plan that continues today through the faithfulness of our Lord. In the 1960s a young Neapolitan, Salvatore Granata, left Pomigliano to reach the city of Montreal, Canada. The young man was looking for fortune: he wanted to find a stable job and join some of his relatives who had already settled in North America a few years ago. Salvatore was 16 years old when he left Italy, and he didn't know about the Lord; he only thought about a material arrangement, but God had reserved an eternal blessing for him. Once Salvatore arrived on site, he slowly managed to integrate into an environment with a culture and language completely different from his own. Meanwhile, one of his brothers-in-law, Michele Fantillo, also an Italian who emigrated to Canada, originally from Casacalenda (CB), received a flyer in his mailbox: it was an invitation to receive a free copy of a portion of the Word of God. Michele, a reading enthusiast, decided to have this special gift sent to him. After a few days some believers from the evangelical community of Montreal, looked after by Brother Spiridigliozzi, brought him a copy of a new testament and spoke to him about Jesus. Michele gave his heart to the Lord and so did his wife Teresa, his sister-in-law Rosaria and his other relatives. Salvatore, on the other hand, was not at all interested in this "new faith" and when they talked about Jesus, in his sister Teresa's house where he was a guest, he did everything he could not to be present. One evening, after taking a guitar course, Salvatore decided not to return home, but to go see a film; he knew that, as usual, some believers would come to his sister Teresa and his brother-in-law Michele to talk to him about God, which is why he wanted to retire as late as possible. As he was about to enter the cinema hall, however, something convinced him to return home to his sister... inside him he thought: "if God returns now... better that he finds me at home and not here". Upon returning, Salvatore discovered that the believers expected that evening had not come, however, his relatives had gathered to pray anyway; they invited him to stay with them, and Salvatore agreed to stay and pray, just because it seemed rude to him to do otherwise. Suddenly, after about 20 minutes of those people having gathered to pray to God, Teresa asked Salvatore where he had been before coming to the house. Salvatore replied that he had been to the guitar course, Teresa added: "After, after the course, where were you?". Salvatore, tried to hide the truth, he was ashamed to tell his relatives that he would have liked to go to the cinema rather than hear them talk about the Lord, but Teresa began to describe in detail the place where he was before coming home: God had shown it to him in prayer. At Teresa's words, Salvatore was disconcerted: he could not help but recognize that the God of his relatives did not belong to a mere religion, but was a living Person; from that day, he began to frequent the local community of Montreal and God saved him and filled him with the Holy Spirit

But the story does not end here: there were other Granata relatives in Italy who did not know God, and the Work of the Lord in this family had just begun.

After a few years, a serious difficulty arose for Salvatore's sister, Rosaria Granata: due to her first birth, the young woman was at the end of her life and the doctors had excluded any hope. Thus, a telegram arrived in Pomigliano to urge the Granata relatives, still in Italy, to reach Rosaria who was about to die. The bad news was received by his father Raffaele Granata, together with his other children: Liberato, Emilia and Elvira.

Liberato, the Granata's eldest son, left together with his sister Emilia, and when he arrived in Canada, surprisingly he found his sister Rosaria recovered, who spoke to everyone: God had literally resurrected her. Freed, of a violent nature, he wanted to mistreat his family, believing that they had brought him from Italy to make fun of him, but then he refrained from inappropriate actions by recognizing that Rosaria had truly been miraculous, in fact even the doctors could not explain how was still alive. In reality, God had answered the fervent prayers of relatives and believers in the Montreal church.

Liberato stayed for some time in Canada, where he had the opportunity to learn about the faith of his Canadian family members. Initially, he scoffed at them and believed that they were all “brainwashed.” Furthermore, he was also greatly annoyed by the numerous visits of believers who went to visit his sister Rosaria: it seemed strange to him that they all called each other brothers and sisters... however, precisely through the love that those believers showed him, God began to work in his heart.

Liberato returned to Italy, while Emilia stayed for another few months in Canada. Returning home, Liberato told his family in Pomigliano about the miracle of his sister Rosaria and the love that the believers of the Montreal church had had for her. About this, Elvira and also some neighbors were strongly intrigued. Without wanting to, Liberato began to arouse in them the desire to learn about the "new faith" professed by his Canadian relatives.

At the same time, in Canada, God was speaking to Salvatore's heart to induce him to return to Italy and speak to all his unconverted relatives. In this regard, Salvatore asked God for a sign of His approval to return to Italy and the Lord immediately responded to him with His Word: "Go, return to your relatives and build an altar...". The year was 1971. Salvatore obeyed the Lord's call, and upon returning to Italy, while he still had his suitcases in his hands, some of his relatives and some of his neighbors asked him to speak to them about the Lord: their hearts were ready to hear the message of the Gospel. Salvatore couldn't wait for anything else and began to evangelize. After a few days, Salvatore and Elvira went to the church in Naples, when it was in the Materdei area. After the service, Salvatore approached Pastor Anastasio with a letter of introduction from Brother Mario Spiridigliozzi. Salvatore asked for help to take an interest in his relatives in Pomigliano.

Pastor Anastasio, when he heard that it was a question of taking care of the Pomigliano area, indicated his brother Stefano D'Alessandro, who was next to him at that moment. Stefano could take care of them, in fact, God had already called him to work in the surrounding areas of Pomigliano, together with his father Pasquale D'Alessandro.

From that moment the history of the Granata family was intertwined with the life of the D'Alessandro family. Every Monday the young Stefano, who became pastor of the community of Pomigliano, arrived punctually at the Granata house, together with his wife, to teach that small group of believers. Brother Pasquale D'Alessandro, with his wife Vicenza, visited and cared for those same souls who, in the meantime, also began to frequent the community of Casalnuovo.

God was not slow in doing a great work. The Lord powerfully baptized with the Holy Spirit, Angelina Pignatiello, a neighbor of the Granatas, who later became Salvatore's wife. This sister, anointed by God, contributed to raising awareness in the hearts of Elvira, Emilia and Liberato, as well as those of all her neighbors and family.

the Lord saved Elvira and Liberato; the latter felt in his heart to make a small garage next to his house available for worship services: this is how our community of Pomigliano D'Arco was born. Other families approached the Lord: Emilia Granata and her husband Biagio Pulcrano, surrendered their hearts to God, then the D'Onofrio family and many others. In that garage God greatly blessed with His presence, and made use of the instrumentality of Brothers Pasquale and Stefano D'Alessandro, and of many of His other ministers such as Brother Gennaro Russo, Brother Raffaele Frezza, Brother Silvano Masullo, Brother Massimo Maggio and Brother Antonio Cipolletta. In 2013 the community moved to a larger room due to space requirements. Since 2015 the community has been looked after by pastor Domenico Sorrentino, a young man who grew up in the church of Pomigliano. Through the work of evangelization, in recent years, new souls are converting to Jesus. Even the last room has now become narrow, and certainly the Lord, as he has always done, will provide splendidly. The Lord, by His grace, is still at work. God did not stop and, even today, continues His glorious plan, so that others may reach salvation. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

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