Vincenzo Di Francesca - Discovery of LDS Church

Discovery of LDS Church

During the First World War, Di Francesca served in the Italian Army. In May 1930, Di Francesca was looking in a French dictionary for some information, and came across the entry “Mormon.” He read the entry which told him that the LDS Church had been established in 1830 and that this church operated a University at Provo (Brigham Young University). He wrote to the university president asking for information about the book and its missing pages. He received an answer two weeks later telling him that his letter had been passed on to the President of the LDS Church, who at the time was Heber J. Grant.

On 16 June 1930, Grant answered his letter and sent a copy of the Book of Mormon in Italian. He told Di Francesca that he would send his request to know more to John A. Widtsoe, who was the president of the LDS Church's European Mission. A few days later, Widtsoe wrote to Di Francesca sending him a pamphlet that contained the story of the Latter Day Saint prophet Joseph Smith, the gold plates, and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. In this way, Di Francesca finally learned of the origins of the book he found on that barrel of ashes so many years ago.