When Lorenzo Da Ponte died in 1838, services were held in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

Da Ponte was a professor of Italian literature at Columbia University. He was also an opera producer.

Prior to coming to America, Da Ponte worked in Vienna for Emperor Joseph II, and wrote librettos for a number of Mozart's operas.

Da Ponte had to move to Austria because he was banished from Venice. It wasn't due to his married mistress or their child that he delivered. It was due to the brothel that Da Ponte and his mistress ran.

In fact, Da Ponte spent his twenties in Venice as a cicisbeo, an attendant to married women. Did we mention that he was ordained as a Catholic priest?

Da Ponte's conversion to Catholicism came soon after he was bar mitzvahed.

Lorenzo Da Ponte was born in 1749 as Emanuele Conegliano, to a Jewish family in Venice.

Talk about a backwards way to live a life.