His was a Capuchin journey like few others. Br. Salvatore Patricola, who died at the age 91 on Feb. 3, was a father and grandfather before becoming a friar late in life.
Our brother was born in New York City on Aug. 30, 1933. He dreamed of being a Capuchin from an early age, attending Glenclyffe, our high school seminary in Garrison, N.Y. He entered the novitiate on Aug. 31, 1952, one day after his 19th birthday. As a clerical candidate he completed his philosophical studies at St. Anthony Friary, Hudson, N.H., in June 1957, but he left the Order that month without making his perpetual profession of vows.
He became a teacher in the Archdiocese of New York, serving at Rice High School in Manhattan and then Cardinal Farley Military Academy in Rhinecliff, N.Y., among other places, until 1970. For the next 20 years he was a guidance counselor at M. Clifford Miller Middle School in Kingston, N.Y., then Millbrook High School, Millbrook, N.Y. Meanwhile, he earned master’s degrees in history and guidance counseling from Fordham University, New York City.
After leaving the Capuchins, he courted Marie G. Viola, who was born in 1938 in Benevento, Italy, and migrated to the Bronx, N.Y., at age 9. They married on July 15, 1961, and had three sons and one daughter, settling eventually in Stanfordville, N.Y.
Marie died on June 27, 1999, which prompted Sal, at age 66, to petition the Province to rejoin the Order. By now he had been a permanent deacon for over 21 years, having been ordained in the Archdiocese of New York on Feb. 11, 1978. He had also been a hospice chaplain for 10 years in Dutchess and Ulster counties. He was readmitted on May 6, 2000.
After an abbreviated postulancy at St. Michael Friary in Brooklyn, N.Y., Brother Sal was invested as a novice on Aug. 19, 2000, and resided for one year at St. Felix Friary, Mt. Calvary, Wis. After his first vows on Aug. 5, 2001, he was sent to the Church of St. John the Baptist in New York City. He made final vows on Sept. 29, 2004. Except for five years at St. Joseph Friary in New Paltz, N.Y., from 2010 to 2015, Brother Sal would spend the next two decades in parochial ministry at St. John. Instantly recognizable with his great white beard and stately voice, he was a well-known, well-loved doorkeeper, manager of the parish gift shop, preacher, spiritual director, spiritual assistant to the Secular Franciscans, food pantry volunteer, director of the Blessed Solanus Guild, director of the Singles for Christ young adult group, and successful vocation contact (bringing several men into the Capuchin Order).
“Like his Capuchin brother Solanus Casey, Brother Sal was a greeter, a listener, a confidant,” said Barbara Brandes, a longtime parishioner at the Parish of Holy Cross-St. John the Baptist. “Whether it be in the rear of the church after Mass, in the pews during daytime visits, in the gift shop, standing on the steps of St. John’s to acknowledge passers-by, or even when walking the streets of Manhattan in the friar’s habit he called his witness, Brother Sal was always available. People in all stages and avenues of life benefited from his conversations and guidance.”
Advancing age required Brother Sal’s retirement to St. Clare Friary for recuperation in July 2021, followed by a brief stay at Cabrini of Westchester in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., before Sister Death reunited him with his beloved Marie, his parents, all the angels and saints, and Jesus Christ.