Louis Francescon (March 29, 1866 – September 7, 1964) was a

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

and pioneer of the Italian

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

Movement. Several Pentecostal denominations and fellowships acknowledge him as their pioneer, including the Christian Church of North America (now named International Fellowship of Christian Assemblies), the Christian Assembly in Argentina, the

Assemblies of God in Italy The Assemblies of God in Italy ( it, Assemblee di Dio in Italia, ADI), whose full name is Evangelical Christian Churches Assemblies of God in Italy (''Chiese Cristiane Evangeliche Assemblee di Dio in Italia''), is a fellowship of evangelical and Pen ...

, the Christian Congregation in the United States, and the Christian Congregation of Brazil.

Biography

Coming from a poor family, he was the son of Pietro Francescon (born in 1830 in Cavasso Nuovo of Antonio Francescon and Elisabetta Zanussi) and Maria Lovisa (born in 1832 in Cavasso Nuovo of Osvaldo Lovisa and Angela Serena). He did not complete high school. Francescon was born in

Cavasso Nuovo Cavasso Nuovo ( fur, Cjavàs) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pordenone in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about northeast of Pordenone. Cavasso Nuovo borders the following mun ...

, a small village in the Province of Pordenone, Italy, and emigrated to the United States in 1890, settling in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He converted to a Waldensian-

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

mission that later was incorporated as the First Italian Presbyterian Church of Chicago. In 1907, Francescon had contact with the North Avenue Full Gospel Mission, pastored

William Howard Durham William Howard Durham (June 10, 1873 in Brodhead, Kentucky – July 7, 1912 in Los Angeles, California) was an early Pentecostal preacher and theologian, best known for advocating the Finished Work doctrine. Early life and career Durham was born ...

, and accepted Pentecostalism. He was elected one of the elders of the ''Assemblea Cristiana'', an independent

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

Italian church which had embraced Pentecostal teaching and became the mother-church for the Italian Pentecostal movement. Francescon started churches in Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Philadelphia before departing on missions abroad. He went to Argentina, Brazil and Europe. From his work emerged several denominations, such as the Christian Church of North America and the Christian Congregation of Brazil. However, Francescon was opposed to formally organizing a denomination, and he eventually left the CCNA. Some CCNA congregations followed him and became known as the Christian Congregations. They retain much of Francescon's nondenominational emphasis. At the time of his death in 1964, he was serving as the senior elder of the Christian Congregation Church in Chicago.

Publications

*''Faithful Testimony''. Self-published, Chicago 1948, 1952.

Notes

References

*Bongiovanni, Guy. ''Pioneers of the Faith''. Christian Church of North America, 1977. {{DEFAULTSORT:Francescon, Louis 1866 births 1964 deaths Italian emigrants to the United States People from the Province of Pordenone American Pentecostals Italian Pentecostals Christian Congregation (Pentecostal) Protestant missionaries in Brazil Members of the Christian Congregation (Pentecostal)