Reverend Henry J. Piacitelli, CM
1918–2008

Father Henry Piacitelli, CM, was born to John and Helen Piacitelli in Sunnyside, Utah. Following the advice of the Daughters of Charity who taught at the local Catholic school, he attended St. Vincent’s College, the high school seminary for Congregation of the Mission in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. After graduation in 1937, he entered the Vincentian novitiate in Perryville, and after following the normal course of seminary studies was ordained a priest in 1945. He died at Mother of Good Counsel Home in St. Louis, on March 6, 2008, after battling cancer for more than a year. His funeral Mass was celebrated at St. Catherine Labouré Church, with Father James Swift, CM, Provincial, presiding.

Fr. Piacitelli served on the faculty of St. Mary’s of the Barrens Seminary in Perryville, Missouri from 1946
to 1949. He also taught at St. Louis Prepatory Seminary from 1959 to 1966. Other assignments took him to seminaries and high schools in Chicago, Cape Girardeau, Kansas City, and Lemont, Illinois. Fr. Piacitelli held a Master of Arts degree in History and Latin from the Catholic University (1950) and a Master of Arts degree in Pastoral Theology from the University of Dubuque (1970).

In the second half of his priestly ministry, Fr. Piacitelli was devoted to pastoral work, especially hospital ministry. From 1976 to 1982 he served at Loyola University Medical Center near Chicago. From 1982 to 1999, he served at LDS, St. Mark’s – HCA, Primary Children’s and the Shriner’s hospitals in Salt Lake City. In 1999, he retired from full-time ministry, and was assigned to Vincentian residences in Missouri and part-time pastoral service until his illness in the fall of 2006. On the occasion of his golden jubilee of ordination, Fr. Piacitelli opined that his longevity as a chaplain and priest was due to “good genes and the grace of God.”

He is survived by his brother John Piacitelli of Tacoma, Washington;
and his sisters, Helen Smith of Salt Lake City and Eleanor Dalia of Helper, Utah; along with many loving nieces and nephews. Burial was at Resurrection Cemetery in St. Louis.