Antonio Demo
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Father Antonio Demo (born on April 23, 1870 in Lazzaretto di Bassano, Italy - 1936 in New York City) was a New York City priest and civic activist. He studied at seminaries in Italy and emigrated to the United States in 1896. He initially did missionary work in Boston and then served as assistant pastor of Our Lady of Pompei Church on Bleecker and Carmine Streets in Manhattan. In 1900 he was appointed as apastor of the church, which served what was then a largely Italian-American community.
In 1923 Father Demo learned that the church would have to be demolished to allow extension of the Sixth Avenue. Father Demo organized a campaign to buy another property and to build a new church, rectory, and parochial school. The new church opened in 1928.
In 1935 Father Demo became Pompei's pastor emeritus and superintendent of its parochial school. He died in 1936 in New York, and thousands of parishioners and friends, including Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, paid their respects.
In 1976, the intersection of Bleecker Street and Sixth Avenue was named Father Demo Square.
