When “Black Jesus” greeted segregated WWII troops

When “Black Jesus” greeted segregated WWII troops

93-year-old veteran Ivan J. Houston remembers the prejudice directed towards non-whites in the U.S. military during World War II. As an African-American, Houston was placed in a segregated infantry unit, and although at least 1 million African-Americans were enlisted in the military, his division was the only one allowed to join the combat in Europe.

The white commanders put Houston’s unit in charge of reclaiming the small city of Lucca, located in Tuscany, Italy. The soldiers were successful in liberating the city from the Nazis, later learning that the Italians of the city honored a historic statue of Jesus—and he was black.

“All I can say is that it’s amazing,” Houston told Angelus News about the discovery. On July 22, he was at St. Jerome Catholic Church in Westchester to give a lecture hosted by the African American Catholic Center for Evangelization(AACCFE).

In recent years he began to make annual pilgrimages to the “Black Christ of the Lucchesi,” also known as “Il Volto Santo” (“The Holy Face”). Nicodemus, one of the early followers of Christ, is believed to be the artist behind the large wooden image, although tradition says that after resting from his work, Nicodemus returned to find the face miraculously completed.