Medford mail tribune., August 07, 1960, Image 51

Here is a profile of Carmelo
Reasons It Pays To Serve
Heinz Baby Foods
Soraci, once locked behind
the bars of prison and
his own cynicism; then
a wise chaplain freed
him from both and brought
beauty to gray penitentiaries
reached out to him when things
were darkest. He will to us, too."
Well, Carmelo figured, what can
a guy like me lose? With Father
Hyland, he plotted a way to raise
funds the way he knew best.
Using blank check, Carmelo
"forged", it for $50,000, signing it,
"The People of the World."
It was a publicity stunt, of course,
and a good one. Within three
months, charitable persons from all
over the country had "made good"
the check, some with notes saying,
"I am one of "The People of the
World' for whom you signed the
check, so I feel obligated."
Soraci was almost beginning to
believe in life again as he start
ed, at last, on his real work, paint
ing the chapel. The first mural was
to be St. Dismas on the cross.
Carpenters fashioned a cross, and
an inmate posed. But Soraci's
sketches were stiff and unnatural.
"I was ready to give up," he re
calls, "when I thought 'Why,: St.
Dismas, why?' Then I knew why.
The model was propped up on the
cross by a barrel. The body muscles
were slack, soft. I kicked away the
barrel, and the model pulled tight
in his bonds, his tendons taut. I
sketched the vivid lines quickly,
and in minutes had the drawing."
"Wonderful!" Father Hyland said.
"Now start on the Stations of the
Cross in stained glass."
"But I never worked in glass!"
"Better learn no more money."
Father Hyland prevailed on a
New York expert to give Car
melo a two-week course in an in
tricate craft passed down from
father to son for centuries. Car
melo, once the cynic and self
doubter, approached the impossible
with quiet assurance. Four years
later, he finished the giant project.
Appraisers from Rambusch and
Co., which had furnished the
teacher-expert, valued the win
dows at $150,000.
"A 'miracle'!" Father Hyland told
Carmelo. "And we'll have a second
'miracle,' Carmelo you'll see!" '
Carmelo didn't understand, but he
believed this time.
Carmelo was transferred back to
Sing Sing. He executed 10 full
sized windows there in the Catholic
and Protestant chapels in addition
to several smaller insets, marvels
of workmanship, each constructed
of 3,000 minute splinters of glass in
mosaic fashion. This work, too, was
valued at $150,000.
In 1949, Carmelo was paroled.
He entered the free world full of
faith in his tomorrows, and for a
time that faith was justified.
"But parole isn't real freedom,"
Carmelo explains. "I worked for
Rambusch part-time, and even
built my own business. Then I fell
in love. I got married without con
sulting my parole officer. That's a
violation, and I went back to Sing
Sing after 10 years of freedom."
When the gates closed again,
Carmelo, whose greatest
crime was forgeries totaling $66,
had "every right to sink into the
cynicism of years before. Instead,
he went to the chapel where his
windows reflect the glory of God.
In their jewel-like light, he prayed.
Outside, people were fighting for
the man who could only pray at
torney William J. Hiller, Sing Sing
chaplain Father McKinney, a big
New York newspaper. Finally,
Judge Edward Thompson, whose
jurisdiction Soraci came under,
visited Sing Sing to see the pris
oner's work. When the judge left,
he was willing to recognize Soraci
as a rare man, one who had found
faith where so many others lose it.
Last February, Soraci was de
clared a free man. He is back with
his wife and the art work he loves.
"I know-now what Father Hyland
meant when he talked about that
'second miracle,' " Soraci says. "He
wanted it for me, my freedom. I'd
like to think there will be other
'miracles' from those chapel win
dows. Maybe they'll give inspira
tion to some hopeless guy, as they
did to me, and start him on the way
back to freedom."
Family Weeklv, August 7, ISM
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