Meet Our Own:

Father Clarence J. Bogetto, CM

It all started 91 years ago in Negaunee, Michigan when Father Clarence J. Bogetto, CM, entered our world. A student of St. Paul’s Grammar School and then Negaunee High School, Fr. Bogetto attended seminary in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and then Novitiate at St. Mary’s of the Barrens in Perryville, Missouri in 1937. (Fr. Bogetto is quick to tell the story of riding down to the seminary and being told not to worry about his age – at that time, 21 years of age was “old” to be entering the seminary!)

So the Legend goes…Fr. Bogetto and a friend, both young Italian boys, went to the bishop and said they wanted to become priests. The bishop said, “Why don’t you try the Vincentians because we have enough Italians.”

Fr. Bogetto says he chose Vincentian life through a lead from the Sisters of St. Joseph in his hometown who were interested in the Vincentians and visited Cape Girardeau and Perryville, Missouri after graduating from high school. “I met the priests and brothers, liked the work they did — parish work and teaching — and I was attracted to that,” he says.  Ordained in 1945,

Fr. Bogetto quickly moved to Chicago to attend DePaul University and then taught at DePaul Academy before becoming a Superior in Lemont, Illinois. Fr. Bogetto’s personal education continued as he received a Master’s Degree in English from DePaul University which led to his research and translation work.  

An early assignment of interest after ordination was traveling to rural areas in Perry County, Missouri on motor missions for three summers.

 “My favorite works were giving missions where we preached every evening in the square and answered questions about the religion of Catholicism,” Fr. Bogetto shares. “We were not trying to convert listeners as much as preach and teach our beliefs…some committed to the Church from listening to our talks,” he adds.

In addition, for ten years, Fr. Bogetto drove 130 miles each way from Missouri to Blytheville, Arkansas on weekends to help out as chaplain, teaching and saying Mass at Eaker Air Force Base. “This was also an enjoyable assignment for me and one of my favorites,” says Fr. Bogetto.

Father Tom Esselman, CM, was an English student of Fr. Bogetto’s in the high school seminary at St. Vincent’s College in Cape Girardeau in the late 1960s and early 1970s. “He was always a marvelous man to us,” shared Fr. Esselman. “The one thing that impressed us all was that he was driving to Arkansas on weekends to do parish work. On occasion, he took individual students — and one time the whole student body — to see his work. This was such a good example to us as teenagers. He was a good model, had a great sense of humor and was very supportive of our student activities. My experience there certainly influenced my choice to become a Vincentian. I was really impressed by Fr. Bogetto’s parish work on that Air Force Base and knew that he was touching a lot of lives. Although I didn’t know what that meant then, I knew it was important,” he said. 

“I have had a great and very interesting life,” shared Fr. Bogetto. “My Vincentian life and works were mostly in teaching and helping out in the parishes. I am now enjoying my time at the Barrens and taking it easy. I am finding it very interesting to watch the new building going up and continue to help out in the church as I can,” he adds.

 “Fr. Bogetto has been a loyal Vincentian all of his life,” shared Father John Gagnepain, CM. “He has always been the man who extended hospitality to people coming to Cape Girardeau or Perryville and was always ‘the belle of the ball.’ For most of his life he has been ‘Mr. Personality,’” he concludes.