 Fr. Vincent Guagliardo,
O.P.
Words are often left unspoken. Vince's death, so sudden, seems like a conversation
cut off in mid-sentence. Friends and family are left behind, confused frustrated
saddened by lost opportunities.
But the whole is more than the mere summation of its parts. Each
of us is a mixture of the known and unknown. Now Vincent was a very private person.
There is much about him we do not know; but we do know Vince was born in Chicago. He
attended Loras College in Dubuque, and entered the novitiate for the Central Province in
1964. He was ordained in 1971, and received his Ph.D. from the Graduate Theological
Union ten years later. He taught at the Dominican School, where he was chair of the
philosophy department from 1984 until his death, and served as the school's acting
president for six months in 1986.
We also know the Vince who was: a scholar with a well-trained mind; a
professor, who would willingly spend hours with any student in need of extra help; a
priest who celebrated Sunday liturgies at Travis Air Force Base every week, and then made
hospital calls; a priest who helped out every Christmas and Holy Week in the Fresno
diocese, hearing hours of confessions and celebrating Mass in mission churches; a
sensitive soul who had a great love of beauty, who was dedicated to our gardens, and who
used his superb abilities to refurbish furniture; a collector who enjoyed working on his
extensive stamp and coin collections; a sub-prior & house treasurer, who spent hours
on budgets, thinking of ways to increase house revenues, and exploring the unfamiliar land
of stock portfolios. Finally, his was a voice that always supported the underdog,
and he would argue for anyone he thought was getting a raw deal.
I guess we do know quite a bit about this private, shy brother of ours.
- Fr. Denis Reilly, O.P.
Date of Birth |
Date of Profession |
Date of Ordination |
Date of Death |
September 14, 1944 |
August 16, 1965 |
May 22, 1971 |
August 13, 1995 |
XII: 240 |
