To prove Christians, particularly Catholics, are creatures of the New Testament, the new Pope has proven to be exempt from some of the important constraints of the Old Testament. Numbers 14:18 says: “The Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation.“
If this scripture were operative for Catholics, the Catholic Conclave either did not do their genealogical research, or they validated the fact that the New Testament supersedes the Old Testament in many ways.
Pope Leo XIV’s paternal grandfather was a bigamist. While married to Daisy Hughes (born in Iowa) in Chicago, the Pope’s grandfather, Salvatore Giovanni Riggitano (born in Sicily), had an affair with Suzanne Louise Marie Fabre (born in Le Havre, France). This affair led to the birth of two boys: John, born in 1917, and Louis, born in 1920. Louis was the Pope’s father. Both John and Louis assumed the surname Prevost.
How did John and Louis acquire the surname of Prevost since the father’s surname was Riggitano and the unwed mother’s surname was Fabre?
John Centi Prevost (the birth record has his name as Jean Prevost) was born in Lackawanna, New York, on July 22, 1917. To avoid scandal, Suzanne Fabre gave birth to John in an unwed mother’s facility.
This affair did not sit well with Salvatore’s wife, Daisy. She went to the police, and a public scandal erupted. As with many articles, the following news article is riddled with errors. However, the essential facts are accurate. Salvatore had an affair with another woman.
So, how did the Pope’s father acquire the surname Prevost? It appears that Suzanne wished to shield her predicament from others by having her first child out of state. Likewise, to further hide her situation, she gave her first son, John, the surname Prevost because that was her mother’s maiden name.
Both Salvatore and Suzanne adopted the surname of Prevost to give their new son some cover and to give themselves a new start. Salvatore Riggitano became John Prevost, and Suzanne became Mrs. Suzanne Prevost. Their second son, the Pope’s father, was named Louis Marius Prevost. Louis was born on July 28, 1920, and died on November 8, 1997.
My curiosity was piqued when I heard that the Pope’s birth surname was Prevost. I remembered from history that Vice President Aaron Burr’s first wife, Theodosia Bartow, was the widow of Jacques Marcus Prevost. However, as I learned, Theodosia’s husband was from the Swiss branch of the Prevost family, while Suzanne’s mother’s line was from France. Some speculate that there might be a connection between the two Prevost branches, but no one has found it.
The New York Times has reported some tantalizing genealogical research about the Louisiana heritage of the mother of the Pope. However, I won’t be reporting on this. We have already proven the power of forgiveness and that the New Testament TRUMPS the Old Testament.