Martin Scorsese, Priest of the Silver Screen
From a young age, Martin Scorsese aspired to be a priest, valuing that vocation even more than becoming president of the United States. His story begins in 1953 in New York City's Little Italy.
At 11, Scorsese lived with his parents and older brother in a small apartment, close to his uncle and grandparents. Beyond the warmth of his family, the world outside was intimidating. The tough streets of the Lower East Side teemed with loan sharks, swindlers, and street toughs who watched, joked, and sometimes fought violently. Fortunately, severe asthma kept Scorsese mostly confined indoors.
“I lived a life apart,” he later recalled. “I felt separate from everyone else.”
From his bedroom window, he absorbed the world below. His Catholic parents, immigrants from the old country, insisted on a religious education, sending him to St Patrick’s Old Cathedral on Mulberry Street.
“Go around the corner, go to school,” they told him.
There, Scorsese discovered his true calling.
Author’s summary: Martin Scorsese’s early desire to join the priesthood profoundly shaped his life, though his true ministry ultimately unfolded through filmmaking rather than the pulpit.