The shadow of Archbishop Celestine J. Damiano looms large in South Jersey. During his seven years as the third Bishop of Camden, the prolific prelate expanded ministry to Hispanics and established three high schools, the House of Charity appeal, the Brazilian mission, and social ministries and initiatives to aid the those in need.
Now, his legacy has spread to Derry, New Hampshire’s Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish – the new home to the chalice Archbishop Damiano used during his priesthood.
For more than 50 years, the priestly vessel had remained in the possession of his family, but the deceased archbishop’s nephew, Celestino “Tino” Damiano Jr., his namesake of Virginia Beach, Va., knew it needed a more fitting home.
Two years ago, he reached out to Father Chris Gaffrey, OFM, a former member of his local parish, Saint Mark’s, who is currently serving as parochial vicar of Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish in the Diocese of Manchester.
“[The chalice] shouldn’t be kept in a closet,” Tino wrote to Father Gaffrey in March 2019. “It would mean a great deal to us if a priest was using it for daily Mass. My dad was an alum of Saint Bona’s [Saint Bonaventure], and it would be fitting for it to go to the Franciscans.”
This past May, the paten and chalice made their way to the church staffed by the Order of Friars Minor and into the hands of its pastor, Father Joseph Powell, OFM, along with a letter explaining the life and achievements of Tino’s uncle. Previously, Saint Thomas Aquinas Church, staffed by the Franciscans, did not have a chalice belonging to the church.
On the base of the gold-plated chalice is Christ seated on his throne, surrounded by floral engravings. Around the node are images of the cross, and further up on the cup are four medallions representing the authors of the Gospels: an angel (Matthew), a winged lion (Mark), an eagle (John) and a winged ox (Luke).
Born in Dunkirk, N.Y., to Italian immigrants, Archbishop Damiano studied at Saint Michael’s College in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, for two years before entering the Urban College of the Propaganda in Rome, where he studied philosophy and theology.
He was ordained to the priesthood on Dec. 21, 1935, and he did pastoral work in the Diocese of Buffalo before becoming an official of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith in Rome, as well as an associate observer of the Vatican to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). After time as Apostolic Delegate to South Africa, he became Bishop of Camden in 1960.
“My uncle, or ‘Uncle Father’ as the nieces and nephews knew him, remained influential in the growth of Holy Trinity Parish [in Dunkirk] and was the principal celebrant at my first Eucharist,” Tino wrote to Father Powell.
“My cousins and I spent many a holiday at his residence in New Jersey, where he served as Bishop of Camden,” he wrote.
When Archbishop Damiano died in 1967, his death left his 10-year-old nephew devastated.
“Not until I was much older, did I fully appreciate the number of lives he touched. While several of us have little mementos of our time with him, I have an item that surely must be shared with another priest,” Tito wrote of the chalice.
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