Father Henry Piacitelli dies at 89

Intermountain Catholic

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Vincentian Father Henry J. Piaciatelli

SALT LAKE CITY — Vincentian Father Henry J. Piacitelli, a native of Sunnyside, Utah, died March 7, 2008, in St. Louis, Mo. He served in the Diocese of Salt Lake City as a hospital chaplain, and as parochial vicar at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. After his retirement in 1995, he served as pastoral administrator at St. Florence Mission, Huntsville. In1997, he returned to the Cathedral of the Madeleine, serving as chaplain for LDS Hospital and celebrating Sunday liturgies for the Carmelites.

Fr. Piacitelli was ordained a priest for the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentian Fathers) June 9, 1945 at St. Mary of the Barrens Church in Perryville, Mo. by Bishop George Donnelly of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis, Mo. He arrived in the Diocese of Salt Lake City Sept. 8, 1982.

Born July 5, 1918, he grew up in Price, attending Price Central School and Notre Dame de Lourdes Regional School. He went on to attend Carbon County High School in Price and St. Vincent College in Cape Girardeau, Mo. He also attended St. Vincent College and St. Mary of the Barrens Seminary in Perryville, Mo., where he studied for the priesthood and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in philosophy in 1941. After ordination, he earned a Masters Degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 1950.

In 1967, he became director of field education, supervising a program in pastoral training at De Andreis Seminary, Lemont, Ill. He earned a degree in theological studies at the University of Dubuque in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1970.

Wherever Fr. Piacitelli went he continued his studies in education, counseling, and clinical pastoral education. He was certified as a chaplain and Fellow at the College of Chaplains, an affiliate of the American Protestant Health Association, in 1974.

He was certified as a chaplain in a general health facility by the National Association of Catholic Chaplains, the United States Catholic Conference, in 1975.

Fr. Piacitelli taught extensively in Catholic colleges and seminaries. While continuing his clinical pastoral education and care, he always included regular pastoral involvement and experience, mostly in service supply, at various churches in the Archdioceses of Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City, Kansas, and in the Dioceses of Kansas City, Mo., Springfield-Cape Girardeau, and Salt Lake City.

He was a founding member of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education and was a member of the College of Chaplains, American Protestant Hospital Association; the National Association of Catholic Chaplains, U.S. Catholic Conference; the Society for the Advancement of Continuing Education for Ministry (SACEM), and the Catholic Chaplains Association, the Archdiocese of Chicago.

He died at Mother of Good Counsel Home after battling cancer for over a year.

Fr. Piacitelli’s funeral Mass was celebrated at St. Catherine Laboure Church. He was buried at Resurrection Cemetery in St. Louis, Mo.

He is survived by his brother, John Piacitelli, Tacoma, Wash., his sisters, Helen Smith of Salt Lake City and Eleanor Dalpiaz of Helper, Utah, and many loving nieces and nephews.

Memorial donations may be made to the Congregation of the Mission, 13663 Rider Trail North, Earth City, Mo. 63045