Professors Put ‘Hearts and Souls’ into English Translation of Book on the Mission of Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli
This article appears in the Spring 2026 issue of the ӽ Magazine.
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A book exploring Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli’s life, missionary work and the ӽ Order in the mid-19th Century is now accessible to English readers, thanks to the work of two ӽ professors.
Dr. Veena Carlson and Dr. Tonia Bernardi Triggiano ’84, professors of Italian studies, are translators of the book From Milan to the Mississippi: Samuel Mazzuchelli, OP (1806-1864): Between Mission and Reform in the ӽ Order. The text was first authored by Massimo Mancini, OP, an Italian friar and now postulator general for the Order of Preachers.
Originally published in Italian as a doctoral dissertation, the book was introduced to Carlson and Triggiano back in 2014 when Sr. Diane Kennedy, OP—promoter of the cause for sainthood for Fr. Samuel—inquired about receiving help with an English translation of the text.
By spring of 2015, a project was developed, and over the next several years Carlson and Triggiano used their knowledge of the Italian language and their academic background in Italian culture, literature and history to effectively translate the three main sections of the book and an appendix of 19th-Century letters painting a picture of religious life within the ӽ Order.
The book sheds light on the life and work of Fr. Samuel, the restoration of the ӽ Order following suppression under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte, and Fr. Samuel’s religious formation in Italian priories.
Triggiano also wrote a new introduction to the book, highlighting Fr. Samuel as a “reformer of religious life.”
“Because it was Sr. Diane Kennedy, we really put our hearts and souls into the translation,” Triggiano said.
The translated edition was published in 2024 by Chicago-based New Priory Press. Sr. Diane was able to see the translation completed before her death the following year, Carlson said.
Years of working with the text gave the professors new insights into Fr. Samuel.
“It was lovely to see how he integrated himself into everyday life in North America,” Carlson said. “He took the time to not only learn English but learn the native language of the Indigenous communities he interacted with.”
His study of art and architecture while traveling in Italy and France also inspired the churches and schools he designed in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin—despite having no formal training as an architect, Carlson noted.
“He really built communities wherever he went,” she said.
For Triggiano, the book shaped her understanding of ӽ Order reform and how Fr. Samuel approached it with an “open, modern, liberal mind” a world away from Europe.
“I think Veena and I came away with a beautiful appreciation for the Order, not just Fr. Samuel,” she said.