Where we worship: St. Nicholas of Tolentine

ST. NICHOLAS of Tolentine Parish has something that no other church in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has: a weekly Sunday Mass conducted in Italian.

The 8 a.m. Mass helps some congregants connect with their Italian heritage, said the Rev. Nicholas F. Martorano, pastor of St. Nicholas since 1984.

"They like the tradition. They want to keep the language. They just enjoy being able to celebrate the Mass with the Italian language even though they speak English," Martorano said.

"It's nostalgic, too, for some," added Martorano, a/k/a Father Nick, who grew up in the neighborhood and the parish. He's proud to say that he's had all of his life's sacraments at the church, including his ordination as a priest.

Who we are: Italian tradition and culture are the centerpiece of St. Nicholas of Tolentine, which was founded at the turn of the 20th century to minister to the city's growing Italian population.

The church mostly serves the community between Broad and 6th streets from Tasker to McKean. The church also runs St. Anthony of Padua Regional Catholic School.

About 90 percent of the registered parishioners are Italian-American - and, yes, the school teaches Italian. The remaining 10 percent are Mexican, Indonesian and "hipsters" from the nearby Passyunk neighborhood, said Martorano.

"The community now is really gentrified," he said.

And, Martorano is eager to point out, "anyone of Italian descent can register with the church," no matter where they live.

Where we worship: The church is on 9th Street near Watkins in South Philadelphia.

Besides the Italian Mass, there are three other Masses on Sunday: at 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. The most popular Mass is at 11, when the church choir performs.

How we got here: Circa 1910, the nearby Our Lady of Good Counsel, which also served a predominantly Italian population, was bursting at the seams. One weekend, the priests there conducted 40 baptisms, according to St. Nicholas' website.

They purchased what had been the Salem Church of the Evangelical Association of North America and founded St. Nicholas in 1912 as a mission church to minister to newly arrived Italians.

What we believe: "We kind of adopted a motto, 'faith, family and tradition,' " Martorano said. All three are empahsized.

"Family has been really extremely important to us - not only the blood family, but also the family of the church," he said. "We look at ourselves as a family."

What we're known for: One of the community's cherished Italian traditions is the annual procession of the saints, held on the first Sunday each October as the kickoff to the St. Nicholas of Tolentine Italian Festival.

An Italian marching band performs as parishoners and festival-goers wind through the streets of South Philly carrying statues of the saints.

Bobby Rydell has performed at the festival. Jerry Blavat is there every year, Martorano said.

Meet St. Nick: St. Nicholas of Tolentine, who lived in the 1200s, was the first Augustinian saint and is the patron saint of souls in purgatory. A sculpture of him sits near the back of the South Philadelphia church.

Good works: One of the congregation's missions is to care for the elderly, the hungry and the sick, Martorano said.

St. Nicholas has a food cupboard that's open to the needy every day of the week. Three times a year - at Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter - the parish gives out food baskets with a turkey or ham.

If pennies rained from heaven into our budget . . . Martorano said he'd make it easier for parents to send their children to St. Anthony of Padua "to have that opportunity without having to worry about finances."

God is . . . "For us, it's a simple answer," he said. "God is love. God is merciful, loving and forgiving."

Words of hope: "Trust in the Lord. Trust in God. That's the best hope you can ever have."