Suzanne Russo Adams: An Accredited Genealogist & Italian Researcher

Suzanne Russo Adams is Accredited Genealogist® specializing in Italian research. The photograph above is from the icapgen.org website.

While in college she published her research thesis as Coexistence and Conflict: Popular Catholicism, the Council of Trent and the Life Cycle in Carini, Palermo, Italy (which you can download by clicking on the link). It gives a wonderful look about what life was like in Carini, Palermo, Italy in the early seventeenth century (1590–1650). As someone who researches the lives of people from northern Sicily, it is so amazing to read about very specific things that were going on with the lives of people and how the Catholic Church shaped their everyday activities regarding Births, Marriages and Deaths.

She has also published a great book on how to do Italian genealogical research called: Finding Your Italian Ancestors: A Beginner's Guide. You can find the book online for your typical retail sites. It is a well laid out book covering the basics of Italian research regarding both church and civil records. It explains how to obtain the records with sample letters and guides on how to read the documents that will be in Latin or Italian. 

If you get a chance to take a class or hear one of her lectures, be sure not to miss it, because Suzanne has so much knowledge to share with fellow researchers.

Here is Suzanne Russo Adams' current bio from Brigham Young University.

Carini: Deceased Brothers of the Congregation 1746 to the Present (1974)

About a year ago, I stumbled across a set of documents tucked inside a group of death records on FamilySearch that I found interesting. It is a list of Italian Catholic priests that served in the Carini area from 1746 to 1974. I had a conversation with Suzanne Adams Russo regarding the list of names, and she helped me with some of the abbreviations that were used. Suzanne sent me a link from the Internet Archive of a book, Dictionary of Latin to Italian Abbreviations by Adriano Cappelli [published in 1929]. It is a wonderful book and if you are doing any type of research of old Italian documents, the manuscript needs to be on your bookshelf as a reference item. And, oh, it's FREE. Now there's no excuse for not having it as part of your Italian genealogical toolkit! Soon after talking with Suzanne, I transcribed and compiled the list into a spreadsheet, which I have included in this blog post.

Here is the direct link to the records on FamilySearch: Carini. Death Certificates 1804, 1809–1878

Abbreviation Key:
Rev. = Reverendo (Reverend)
Mro. = Maestro (Teacher)
Dr. = dicitur, distinguitur (distinguished)
D. = Don (a title of respect or honor, someone important)
Dr. D. = Distinguished Don
Not. / Notar. = Notaio (Notary)
Sac. = Sacerdote (Priest)
Arci = Arciprete (Arch-Priest)
Fisico (Physicist)
Maggiore (greater)
Economo = ??? {unknown, I could use some help with the meaning of this word}
Anello = ??? {unknown, I could use some help with this abbreviation}
Bno. / Ble. = ??? {unknown, I could use some help with these abbreviations}

Note:
Something that is interested regarding this list, is that everyone with the “Mro.” (or Teacher), title, has the name “Nunzio” attached to their name. Not sure what is going on with this, maybe someone can help figure it out.

Title #1	Title #2	Surname	Given Name	Death Date	Notes
Rev.	D.	Grippi	Filippo
Rev.	Dr. D.	Graffagnino	Gian Battista		Arci
Rev.	Dr. D.	Noledo	Ignazio
Rev.	D.	Camialo (sp?)	Francesco
Rev.	D.	Pignataro	Francesco
Rev.	D.	Marino	Giuseppe
Rev.	Dr. D.	Mancuso	Giuseppe
Rev.	D.	di Bella	Andrea
Rev.	D.	Amato	Santo
Rev.	Dr. D.	Marchisi	Andrea		Arci
Rev.	D.	Cavoli	Pietro
Rev.	D.	Barrila	Domenico
Rev.	D.	Buzzetta	Domenico
Rev.	Dr. D.	di Bella	Matteo
Rev.	D.	Bubbeo	Giuseppe
	D.	Ballerino	Vincenzo
	Mro.	Corpora	Francesco		Nunzio
Rev.	D.	Amato	Antonino
Rev.	D.	Pignataro	Diego
Rev.	D.	Chianti	Giuseppe
Rev.	D.	Mignano	Antonino
Rev.	Dr. D.	Sarmiento	Antonino
Rev.	Dr. D.	Canepa	Pietro		Arci
Rev.	Dr. D.	Amato	Giuseppe
Rev.	D.	di Gregorio	Giovanni
Bne.	D.	Marchisi	Antonino
Rev.	D.	Ruggeri	Francesco
Rev.	D.	Riggio	Giuseppe
Rev.	D.	Galluzzo	Antonino
Rev.	Dr. D.	Scavo	Francesco		Arci
Rev.	D.	Lo Vecchio	Francesco
Bne.	D.	Marchisi	Vincenzo
	D.	Riggio	Gaetano
Rev.	D.	Mignano	Rosario
Rev.	D.	Amato	Cristoforo
Rev.	D.	Baiada	Giacomo
Rev.	D.	Riggio	Francesco
	D.	Gambara	Domenico		Arci
Rev.	D.	Sanchez	Giuseppe
	Mro.	Picone	Antonino		Nunzio
Rev.	D.	Mananzano	Francesco
Rev.	D.	Canepa	Nicola
Rev.	D.	Chianti	Giuseppe
Rev.	Dr. D.	Ballerino	Carlo		Arci
Not.	D.	Amato	Giuseppe
	Mro.	Pellerito	Giuseppe		Nunzio
Rev.	Dr. D.	di Bella	Antonino
Rev.	D.	Canepa	Giuseppe
Rev. Bne.	D.	Badalamenti	Luigi
Rev.	D.	Leone	Emmanuele
	D.	Gaglio	Pietro		Arci
	Mro.	Orlando	Alberto		Nunzio
Rev.	D.	Oliveri	Agostino
Rev.	D.	Attisano	Pasquale		Arci
	Dr. D.	Orso	Salvatore		Fisico
Rev.	D.	Marchisi	Giuseppe
Rev.	D.	Catalano	Rosario
Rev.	Dr. D.	Mignano	Antonino
	Mro.	Scrivano	Gaetano		Nunzio
Rev.	Dr. D.	Guastella	Calogero		Arci
Rev.	D.	Cicala	Carlo
Rev.	D.	Guastella	Vincenzo
	Mro.	Curreri	Croce		Nunzio
	Mro.	Scrivano	Salvatore		Nunzio
Rev.	D.	Lo Vecchio	Francesco
Rev.	D.	Riggio	Gaetano
Rev.	D.	Sanchez	Vito
	Mro.	Armetta	Antonio		Nunzio
	Mro.	Pecoraro	Antonino		Nunzio
Rev.	D.	Picone	Nicola
Rev.	D.	Carollo	Francesco
	Dr. D.	di Bella	Matteo		Fisico
Rev.	D.	Ferranti	Giuseppe		Maggiore
	Mro.	Marino	Dima		Nunzio
Notar.	D	Sanchez	Giuseppe
Rev.	D.	Ferranti	Giuseppe
Rev.	D.	Buffa	Pietro
Rev.	D.	Nania	Liborio		Arci
Rev.	D.	Picone	Vito
Rev.	D.	Ruffino	Salvatore
Rev.	D.	Randazzo	Sebastiano
Rev.	D.	Oliveri	Domenico
	Mro.	Alfeo	Antonino		Nunzio
Rev.	D.	Geraci	Stefano
Rev.	D.	Geraci	Antonino
Rev.	D.	Graffagnino	Pietro
Rev.	D.	Marchiano	Ottavio		X
Rev.	D.	Costantino	Croce
Rev.	D.	Passalacqua	Vito
Rev.	D.	Riggio	Filippo
Rev.	D.	Cususamo	Vito
Rev.	D.	Cicala (sp?)	Carlo Maria
	Dr. D.	Franzina	Giachino		Fisico
	Dr. D.	Canepa	Calogero		Arci
Rev.	D.	Pellerito	Ambrogio
Rev.	D.	Balsamo	Giovanbattista
	Dr. D.	Oliveri	Stefano		Arci
Rev.	D.	Cavoli	Giuseppe
Rev.	D.	Amato	Antonino
Rev.	D.	Pecoraro	Pasquale
	D.	Geloso	Agostino
Rev.	D.	Amato	Antonino		2o
Rev.	D.	Abbate	Ambrogio
	Mro.	Morici	Giacomo		Nunzio
Rev.	D.	Gatto	Vincenzo		Arci
	Mro.	Pecoraro	Filippo		Nunzio
Rev.	D.	Carollo	Salvatore
Rev.	D.	Oliveri	Domenico
Rev.	D.	Cususamo	Salvatore
Rev.	D.	Jacona	Francesco
Rev.	D.	Maniscalco	Vito
Rev.	D.	Guercia	Salvatore
Rev.	D.	Riggio	Cristoforo		Arci
Rev.	D.	Mannino	Vincenzo
Rev.	D.	Lombardo	Stefano		Anello
Rev.	D.	Randazzo	Vincenzo		Economo
	Mro.	Mannino	Agostino		Nunzio
Rev.	D.	Cataldo	Matteo
Rev.	D.	Attisano	Cristoforo		Arci
Rev.	Sac. D.	Gambino	Antonio
Rev.	Sac. D.	Cavoli	Antonino
Rev.	Sac. D.	Cususamo	Giuseppe
Rev.		Pecoraro	Francesco
Rev.		Mannino	Antonino Maria
Rev.	Sac. D.	Scrivano	Giovanni
		Abbate	Antonino
	Mro.	Mannino	Vincenzo		Nunzio
	D.	Abbate	Giuseppe		Arci
Rev.		Randazzo	Stefano
Rev.	Sac.	Curreri	Salvatore
	Sac. D.	Randazzo	Antonino
Rev.		Mannino	Pasquale		Arci
Rev.	D.	Cangialosi	Giuseppe
Rev.	D.	Frisella	Giuseppe
Rev.	Sac.	Giambanco	Giuseppe
Rev.	Sac.	Amato	Filippo
Rev.	Sac.	Mineo	Vito
		Lentini	Antonino		Nunzio
Rev.	Sac.	Lombardo	Stefano
		Pecoraro	Salvatore		Nunzio
Rev.	Sac.	Mineo	Antonino
Rev.	Sac.	Cangelosi	Pietro
Rev.	Sac.	Romano	Ambrogio		Arci
Rev.	Sac.	Cavoli	Giuseppe
Rev.	D.	La Fata	Giuseppe	25 Feb 1909	Arci
Rev.	Sac.	Buffa	Rosario
Rev.	Sac.	di Gregorio	Vincenzo
Rev.	Sac.	Calderone	Salvatore
		Mannino	Giuseppe		Nunzio
Rev.	Sac.	Armetta	Vito
Rev.	Sac.	Badalamenti	Giovanni
Rev.	Sac.	Buffa	Giuseppe
Rev.	Sac.	Canepa	Giuseppe
Rev.	Sac.	Cavoli	Salvatore
Rev.	Sac.	Carollo	Giovanni	1917
	Sac. D.	Misseri	Cesare	3 Apr 1904
	Sac.	Buffa	Antonino	1918
	Sac.	Purpura	Giuseppe	1918
	Sac.	Misseri	Antonino	1926
	Sac.	Carollo	Giovanni	1926
	Sac.	Cavoli	Vito	1926
	Sac.	Picone	Giuseppe	1927
	Sac.	???	Giuseppe	1928
	Sac.	???	Vincenzo	1929
	Sac.	Gallina	Vincenzo	1933
Rev.	D.	Mannino	Tommaso	11 Apr 1936	Arci / Monsignor D. insigne e benemerito
	Sac.	di Stefano	Giuseppe	8 Jun 1943
	Sac.	Abbate	Rosario	4 Mar 1974
	Sac.	Badalamenti	Antonino	13 Feb 1967
	Sac.	La Fata	Giuseppe	15 Feb 1957

Here is the source citation for the first page of the list of names:
"Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-69G9-THY?view=explore : Feb 2, 2026), image 1828 of 1835; Curia Arcivescovile di Monreale. Image Group Number: 004382652