Martin Scorsese, Priest of the Silver Screen
From a young age, Martin Scorsese aspired to become a priest. In his eyes, the priesthood was greater than even the presidency of the United States.
Early Life in Little Italy
In 1953, Scorsese was an 11-year-old boy living in a small apartment in New York City's Little Italy neighborhood with his parents and older brother. His uncle lived in the same building, and his grandparents were nearby. Despite this close family circle, the outside world was daunting. The streets of the Lower East Side were filled with tough characters, loan sharks, and conmen who watched from corners, joked, told stories, and sometimes resorted to violence.
Because of severe asthma, Scorsese rarely ventured outside. He recalled,
“I lived a life apart. I felt separate from everyone else.”
A Religious Upbringing and Education
His parents, devout Catholics from their homeland, wanted him to have a religious education. They sent him to St Patrick’s Old Cathedral school on Mulberry Street, urging him to attend diligently. That experience helped him discover his true calling in life.
“Go around the corner, go to school,” they told him. So he went, and found what he wanted to do in life.
Faith Practiced Through Film
Though Scorsese once desired to serve the Church directly, he ultimately expressed his faith more profoundly through filmmaking than from a pulpit.
Author's summary: Martin Scorsese’s early desire to be a priest shaped his worldview, but he found a greater spiritual calling in filmmaking, using cinema as his true pulpit.