Vocationist priests, sisters celebrate canonization of order’s founder

FLORHAM PARK  Celebrations continued last weekend in the Diocese and beyond in thanks­­giving for the canonization of St. Justin M. Russolillo, founder of the Society of Divine Vocations, in St. Peter’s Basilica by Pope Francis on May 15 along with nine other saints. Five priests of his order, also known as Vocationists, who live or serve in the Diocese, witnessed the canonization. Among them was Father Louis Caputo who lived in community in Italy with St. Justin, known for urging everyone to “become saints.”

Father Caputo, who lives in the St. Justin Vocationary of the USA Quasi Province of the religious order in Florham Park, concelebrated a Mass for St. Justin on Saturday, May 28 in St. Rose of Lima Parish in East Hanover. After Mass, parishioners were able to venerate a relic of the saint. St. Justin is connected to St. Rose Parish, because a parishioner, Gaetanina “Ida” Meloro, was healed of vaginal cancer in 1998 through his intercession. This became the first miracle attributed to the Italian priest that helped lead to his beatification “as Blessed Justin” in 2011— a major step toward his sainthood.

“I was on ‘cloud eleven.’ I’ve been praying and waiting for this,” Father Caputo said of his feelings at the canonization. He previously served as superior general of the Vocationists — the fourth successor of St. Justin. “St. Justin already was a saint on earth. But with his canonization, he becomes an official model for sanctification. He preached that holiness is not only possible, but is also a must. We are called to follow Christ,” he said.

On May 29, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney joined Cardinal Joseph Tobin, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, other local bishops, and Vocationist priests, brothers, and sisters, including Father Caputo, for a Mass for St. Justin at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. In the Diocese, Voca­tionists serve St. Gerard Parish in Pater­son and the Sanctuary of Mary, Our Lady of the Holy Spirit and St. Justin, located in Branchville.

“I very much enjoyed celebrating the Thanksgiving Mass for the canonization of St. Justin with Cardinal Tobin and the local Vocationist family,” Bishop Sweeney told The Beacon. He knew the Vocationists who serve the Brooklyn Diocese where he was a priest for 23 years. “The Vocationists are a blessing to the Church, to the Universal Church and to the Church of Paterson. They continue the work of St. Justin by touching the lives of young men and women who are discerning the priesthood and religious life, and of countless other people — just like so many saints have done. St. Justin wanted to remind everyone that they have a ‘vocation’ from their Baptism. He continues to remind and to call us, especially through the Vocationist family, that we are all called to holiness.” the Bishop said.

Celebrations of St. Justin’s canonization will continue on Aug. 2, his feast day, when Bishop Sweeney will rededicate the Sanctu­ary of Mary, Our Lady of the Holy Spirit and St. Justin — that now has the new saint’s name added — with a Mass at noon. He also will bless a new statue of St. Justin there. The shrine will feature a new St. Justin’s Way: an outdoor path with “stations” that will display photos and historical vignettes about his life, said Father Caputo.

At the canonization, Vocationist priests, brothers, and sisters from around the world were delighted to watch as Pope Francis added the names of St. Justin and the other new saints into the Book of Saints. Everyone prayed the Litany of the Saints with the new saints added, Father Caputo said.

“It was a huge crowd. I felt like a drop of water in the ocean,” Father Caputo said. “I thought to myself, ‘Father Justin made it [to sainthood]. We can make it too!’ ” he said.

After the May 21 Mass at St. Rose, which he concelebrated, Father Matthew Kranc, pastor, said he presided over the funeral of Ida Meloro who died in 2020. She was 82.

“Ida was a proud parishioner, a neighbor, and a friend. The miracle makes it tangible. It encourages us to get closer to God. One way could be through miracles,” Father Kranc said.

One St. Rose parishioner, who venerated the St. Justin relic that afternoon, was Ronni Dellen, who said she did not previously know the stories of St. Justin or Meloro.

“I was impressed that St. Justin took boys in who later became priests. He might be my newest devotion,” Dellen said.

As a pastor in his hometown, St. Justin opened the rectory as a “vocationary,” where he formed men, who could not afford seminary or were unsure of God’s call. These vocationaries sparked more than 300 vocations in his lifetime.

Father Caputo was one of those vocations. In his teens, he lived in the vocationary in Pianura with St. Justin for two years before the new saint died in 1955. He attended Masses that he celebrated, listened to him preach, and shared group discussions and recreation with him. Father Caputo has published some of the saint’s books in Italian and English, wrote biographical information for his cause for sainthood, and attended his beatification, he said.

“I remember St. Justin’s smile, humility and kindness and his spirituality and commitment,” said Father Caputo, who noted that the saint regaled students with stories of the lives of saints. “It was a special privilege and grace to have known him,” he said.

The Vocationists first arrived in the U.S. in 1962. In 2017, a Quasi Province was established that serves parishes in Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Florida.

St. Justin’s story became intertwined with St. Rose Parish in 1998 when Meloro was diagnosed with stage 4 vaginal cancer with a poor prognosis. With the help of Vocationists, she prayed for the intercession of St. Justin, who was proclaimed venerable in 1997. Later that year, doctors told her the tumor was in remission.

In 2004, Bishop Rodimer erected an Ecclesiastical Tribunal to conduct an investigation of the miracle as part of St. Justin’s cause for sainthood. Later that year, Bishop Serratelli suppressed the tribunal and erected a new one to continue the process after noticing that the procedure was not being followed properly. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI recognized the healing as a miracle after the Vatican verified the evidence of the miracle.

A second medical miracle needed for canonization happened in 2016 when Jean Emile Rasolfo of Madagascar was cured of acute respiratory failure, epilepsy and other serious maladies.

Among the priests involved in the process in the Diocese were the late Msgr. Edward Kurtyka and Msgr. Joseph Anginoli.

“I’m happy to have been a part of it. It was humbling,” said Msgr. Anginoli, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Mendham and adjutant judicial vicar of the diocesan Tribunal. “We read about saints in antiquity but St. Justin is in our time. It reminds us that God is working in people today. We are all called to be saints in our own time. We must be open to becoming holy,” he said.