Little Italy in Cleveland, OH

Little Italy is a neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio located at the base of Murray Hill, between Cleveland's University Circle neighborhood and the suburb of Cleveland Heights. It houses many of Cleveland's well-liked Italian restaurants and serves as the center of Italian culture in the Greater Cleveland Area. Guarino's was the first Italian restaurant in Cleveland, and the first Italian restaurant in the state of Ohio. It is located just past Murray Hill on Mayfield Road. Chef Boyardee opened his first restaurant, Il Giardino d'Italia, in Little Italy in the 1940s. The first pasta machine was invented in Little Italy by an Italian immigrant named Angelo Vitantonio, who received a United States patent for the product in 1906.

The area is also home to many private art galleries and two private schools, and is within walking distance from Case Western Reserve University. Each August on the Roman Catholic Feast of the Assumption, Little Italy stages an Italian cultural festival, the Feast of the Assumption Festival.

For much of its history, Little Italy was home to the largest Mafia organization between New York and Chicago. The organization was the seat of power for families that operated in Pittsburgh, Youngstown, Toledo, Detroit, and Akron.

Famous visitors include Pope John Paul, Frank Sinatra, and Jack Ruby.

Category: Image - :Baroque Rubens Assumption-of-Virgin-3.jpg|thumb|250px|The Assumption of the Virgin Mary has been a subject of veneration, doctrine and Catholic Marian art for centuries. This painting is by Rubens, 1626.

The Assumption of Mary is the traditional belief held by Christians of the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and some Protestant churches such as Lutheranism and Anglo-Catholic Anglicans that the Virgin Mary at the end of her life was physically taken up into heaven. The Roman Catholic Church teaches as dogma that the Virgin Mary, "having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory."Pope Pius XII: "Munificentissimus Deus - Defining the Dogma of the Assumption", par. 44. Vatican, November 1, 1950 This means that it claims that Mary was transported into Heaven with her body and soul united. This doctrine was dogmatically and infallibly defined by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950, in his Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus. The feast day recognizing Mary's assumed passage into Heaven is celebrated as The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Roman Catholics, and as the Dormition by Orthodox Christians. In those denominations that observe it, the Assumption is a major festival, commonly celebrated on August 15. This is a Holy Day of Obligation in many Roman Catholic jurisdictions.

In his August 15, 2004, homily given at Lourdes, Pope John Paul II quoted from the Bible as a scriptural basis for understanding the dogma of the Assumption of Mary. In this verse, Jesus tells his disciples at the Last Supper, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also." According to Catholic theology, Mary is the pledge of the fulfillment of Christ's promise. However, many theologians disagree with this interpretation of Scripture, and believe that Christ was speaking about his preparation of Calvary and the crucifixion for the remission of sins.Homily of the Holy Father John Paul II, August 15, 2004, Apostolic Pilgrimage to Lourdes, Women for Faith and Family,http://www.wf-f.org/JPII_LourdesHomily.html