If you grew up in Brooklyn, especially in an Italian neighborhood, you have got to read a new book titled, “The Third Attic and Other Brooklyn Stories.”
Written by Vincent Manago, the book centers around life in St. Lucy’s parish, Kent Avenue, and the search for a hidden room in the church that contained relics and other religious items of great value.
But along the way, Manago gives a detailed account of what it was like to grow up in a no-nonsense Brooklyn nabe in the 1950s and ’60s. He talks about his comrades and how they all received their different nicknames. He recalls the influences of the parish priests like Father Angelo Moschello and the Pallotine Sisters.
There are the rules for playing ring-a-levio (aka ring-a-lario) and descriptions of what it was like to learn Latin in order to become an altar boy, sing the Tantum Ergo and belong to a national parish that had no boundary lines.
Along the way, you get to know the sights of the local landscape, like the Convent of Mercy on Willoughby Avenue, the War Memorial in Fort Greene Park, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Cumberland Hospital and Stimpson’s factory.
You also learn about the history of the area. Manago has researched the impact of the Revolutionary War on Brooklyn, the story of how a Jewish couple helped build St. Lucy’s Church and the Brooklyn stop on the Underground Railroad.
He also reminds us that St. Lucy’s was where Francis J. Mugavero was baptized and how later as Brooklyn’s Bishop he agonized over the decision to close the parish.
Manago also gets personal, relating the effects of his father’s bout with epilepsy, his teenage love interests, his days at Bishop Loughlin M.H.S., Fort Greene, and the “accidental” way in which he met his wife at a dance at the Catholic Youth Organization Country Club in Whitestone.
Running through the entire book is the eternal quest to find the Third Attic in St. Lucy’s Church. Generation after generation, the search for that hidden vault captured the imagination and fascination of the teenage boys of the neighborhood.
These were days when neighborhoods were defined by their parishes, and so it’s not unusual to hear the author describe in detail the layout of the parish church, even behind the scenes, like what’s above the ceiling and the crawl space that leads to the bell tower.
Manago grew up to become a successful CPA with a nationally recognized firm, and he fully credits the influence of his family and church on the man he is today. Now retired and living in Manhasset, L.I., he continues to take his faith seriously and volunteers as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion at two local hospitals.
His own life’s journey has come to two conclusions: Nothing happens by accident, and the only way to be fulfilled in life is by giving back to others.
“I owe a profound indebtedness to my parents and grandparents who endured much and sacrificed a great deal, so that I could have the opportunities that were made available to me,” writes Manago. “I also feel a deep sense of gratitude for my sisters and my aunts, uncle and cousins and friends with whom I shared those wonderful early years of my life in Brooklyn.
“Although life in Brooklyn was comparatively simple, it was a glorious time, and I remember it well.”
Manago’s book is available at Amazon.com.