The Sicilian Roots of Pope Leo XIV

Following the election of the new Pope, Leo XIV, genealogists around the world began investigating his origins. Although he had always stated that he was of French descent on his father’s side and Spanish on his mother’s, clues soon emerged suggesting that his paternal grandfather, known as John Prevost, had in fact been born in Italy.

Initially, many media outlets speculated about a possible origin in Piedmont, due to the presence of the surname Prevosto in that region. However, no solid documentary evidence was found: immigration, marriage, or census records prior to 1950 were lacking. The turning point came with the publication of a detailed report by the Genealogy Discord Server, an international community of volunteer genealogists collaborating online. This group carried out a thorough collaborative investigation culminating in the document “One Man, Two Identities,” which confirms that John R. Prevost, the ancestor of the new pontiff, was in fact named Salvatore Giovanni Gaetano Riggitano, born in Milazzo, Sicily. Similar investigations were published in recent days on the commercial platforms Geneanet and Ancestry.

How did the surname Riggitano become Prevost?

According to these recent genealogical investigations, Pope Leo XIV (Robert Francis Prevost) is the grandson of a Sicilian man, although this family history remained hidden for decades. The reconstruction of his paternal lineage was made possible by the combined efforts of volunteer genealogists from the Genealogy Discord Server, the editorial team at Geneanet, and professionals at Ancestry, who identified his true family surname: Riggitano.

The Sicilian ancestors of Pope Leo XIV

According to the publications mentioned above:

• His paternal great-grandparents were Santi Riggitano, born in Milazzo, Sicily, who worked as a municipal usher (usciere), and Maria Alioto, also born in Milazzo. They were married in 1853 and lived on Via Ottaviana in the city of Milazzo, province of Messina.
• His paternal grandfather, who emigrated to the United States, was Salvatore Giovanni Gaetano Riggitano, born on June 24, 1876, in Milazzo. Salvatore was the youngest of a large family from Milazzo. His parents, Santi Riggitano and Maria Alioto, had at least eleven children between 1854 and 1876. The family lived on Via Ottaviana, a street in the historic center of the city.

Santi Riggitano held a stable position in the municipal administration. The role of usciere involved managing the antechamber of public offices, announcing visits, controlling access, and providing information to the public. It required a certain level of literacy, which is documented by his signature on various official records. This occupation was often passed down through generations, and it is presumed that his father, Giuseppe Riggitano, held the same role.

On the maternal side, Maria Alioto came from a family of merchants and artisans. Her parents, Francesco Alioto and Vittoria Trusiano, were listed as “traficanti” (merchants). Her grandfather, Giacomo Trusiano, was a “bottaro” (barrel maker), and her great-grandmother, Rosa Tomasello, was recorded as a “faticatrice,” or manual laborer. This lineage indicates a working-class origin with upward mobility toward the lower middle class.

Salvatore was raised in this context and received advanced formal education for his time and environment. According to records recovered by Ancestry and the Genealogy Discord Server, he studied languages, history, and mathematics and earned a diploma in 1895. His education enabled him to work in the Italian civil courts, confirming his level of instruction and integration into the local administrative system before emigrating. This educational and professional background explains his later career as a teacher of Romance languages in the United States.

Among his siblings were Victoria Maria Riggitano (who emigrated to Quincy, Illinois, and became known as Mrs. Victoria Cento), Antonino (Anthony), who lived in Rome, and Rosa, who also emigrated to the U.S. and settled in Quincy. Several siblings appear in civil records in Milazzo and in U.S. immigration and census documents.

Victoria’s obituary, published in 1949, explicitly names “John Riggitano of Chicago” as her brother, providing a key piece of evidence linking the Pope’s grandfather to his original name. Other siblings such as Giuseppe, Francesco, Gaetano, Clotilde, Concetta, and Giuseppa appear in Italian records, although not all emigrated or left further traces in the U.S.

How did the surname Riggitano become Prevost?

Salvatore Giovanni Gaetano Riggitano, born in 1876 in Milazzo, Sicily, emigrated to the United States in 1904 and settled in Quincy, Illinois. There he began working as a teacher of Romance languages (French, Italian, Spanish, and German), a profession he pursued for decades in schools, conservatories, and through private lessons in cities such as Keokuk, Fort Madison, Chicago, and Detroit.

In 1914, he legally married Daisy Hughes, but shortly thereafter began a parallel relationship with Suzanne Fontaine, a young French immigrant. With Suzanne, he had two sons: John Centi Prevost (1917) and Louis Marius Prevost (1920), the latter being the father of the future Pope Leo XIV.

To avoid legal and social scandal—since his relationship with Suzanne was extramarital and he remained married—he adopted a new identity: John R. Prevost, using the surname of Suzanne’s mother, Jeanne Eugénie Prévost. Another hypothesis proposed by Geneanet suggests that this surname also allowed him to assume a more culturally appropriate identity for his professional setting (as he taught French) and to hide his past.

From that moment on, Riggitano lived and was known under that name, even in official documents such as the birth certificates of his children.

A key document

Under U.S. law, the Alien Registration Act, enacted on June 28, 1940, all non-citizen adult residents of the United States were required to register with the federal government. During that process, Reggitano declared both names: John R. Prevost and Salvatore Giovanni Reggitano Alioto, thus leaving behind a key piece of documentation that allowed his true identity to be reconstructed (individual file, or Alien File, number A2358911).

In that declaration it is stated: “My name is John Riggitano Prevost” and “I entered the United States under the name Salvatore Giovanni Riggitano Alioto.”

He died in Chicago in 1960, and his death certificate confirms that he was born in Italy on June 24, 1876—matching the birth record from Milazzo.

Sources

These investigations are based on primary documents and the work of professional and volunteer genealogists, all of whom confirm that Pope Leo XIV’s grandfather, known as John R. Prevost, was actually Salvatore Giovanni Gaetano Riggitano.

This research, along with original documentation and family trees, is available on FamilySearch, as well as on Geneanet and Ancestry. See also the publication One Man, Two Identities.

Cited sources include:

• Birth certificate of Salvatore Giovanni Gaetano Riggitano – Milazzo, Sicily, June 24, 1876
• Marriage certificate with Daisy Hughes – Chicago, April 14, 1914
• Passenger list of SS Perugia – New York, June 2, 1903
• Alien Registration Form (AR-2) – U.S., September 24, 1940 (A-file No. A2358911)
• U.S. Census 1910 – Listed as “Giovanni Riggitano,” Iowa
• U.S. Census 1920 – Listed as Salvatore Riggitano
• U.S. Census 1950 – Listed as John R. Prevost, born in Italy, 5465 Ellis Ave., Chicago
• Death certificate of John R. Prevost – Chicago, 1960
• Archdiocese of Chicago cemetery records – 1960
• NUMIDENT Social Security Records – for John R. Prevost
• World War I Draft Registration – Salvatore G. Riggitano
• World War II Draft Registration – John Prevost
• Naturalization Records – Cook County, Illinois, 1927–1941
• Birth certificate of John Centi Prevost – July 23, 1917, Lackawanna, NY
• Quincy, Illinois City Directory (1908) – Mention of Riggitano
• The Daily Gate City (Keokuk, Iowa) – Nov. 24, 1908 – Language class advertisement
• The Daily Gate City (Keokuk, Iowa) – July 10, 1910 – Language instruction advertisement
• Chicago Tribune – May 6, 1934 – “Riggitano-Prevost School of Languages” advertisement
• Quincy Daily Herald – March 1917 – Daisy Hughes files adultery complaint against Suzanne Fontaine; Riggitano referred to as language teacher
• Obituary of Victoria Mary Cento – Quincy Herald Whig, Dec. 28, 1949 – Mentions “John Riggitano of Chicago”
• Birth certificates of Jean Lanti Prevost / Louis Marius Prevost – Chicago, 1920
• FamilySearch records linked to the Riggitano and Alioto families in Milazzo
• Birth record of Rosa Riggitano – Milazzo
• Marriage record of Santi Riggitano and Maria Alioto – 1853, Milazzo
• Records of additional Riggitano family children (Giuseppe, Francesco, Gaetano, Antonino, Concetta, etc.)
• Find A Grave profile of Victoria Mary Cento – referencing “John Riggitano of Chicago”
• Riggitano-Prevost School listing in Chicago city directories