Anita DiLorenzo, mother of former Hawaii bishop
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Anita Porrino DiLorenzo, the mother of the former Bishop of Honolulu Francis X. DiLorenzo, died on Feb. 16 in Norristown, Pa. She was 88 years old.
Her son, now Bishop of Richmond, Va., presided at her funeral at her home parish, Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Wynnewood, Pa., on Feb. 19.
She is survived by her husband of 65 years Samuel N. DiLorenzo.
Anita Porrino was born on Aug. 30, 1916, in West Philadelphia. Her father, a shoemaker, was from Italy. Her mother was an Italian-American.
Francis was the first born of three children. In an article published in 1988 in The Catholic Light, the newspaper of the Diocese of Scranton, Anita said she named her son after St. Francis Xavier because her parish had a novena to the saint every Lent, “and I promised him that if I had a healthy son, I would name him in his honor.”
“She was a very loving and encouraging presence in my life,” the bishop said by phone last week.
He had last seen her five days before she died. She had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for the past five years and was being cared for in a nursing home.
Other survivors of Anita DiLorenzo include her brother Alfred Porrino, her daughter Anita Lawler, son Paul DiLorenzo, four grandchildren and three great grandchildren.