The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER W e dn es da y, D ec em be r 1 5, 2 01 0 4 By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Father Augusto Pucci, Padre Pucci, was a great friend to a great many. Among Puccis loves outside of the priest- hood was mountain-climbing and he moved mountains, it seemed at times, for his beloved St. James parish in Oakville, which he built and nurtured. Now, priests and parishioners of the Morden Road parish offer prayers for the soul of our beloved Father Augusto Pucci. At age 94, just a month away from his 95th birthday, Father Pucci died after a lengthy respiratory illness, at home at St. James where he had been the retired priest in resi- dence, along with Pastor Father Louis Lenssen and Associate Pastor Father Frank Ruzza. Just last year, Father Pucci, a member of the Barnabite Brothers, whose North American headquarters is in New York, cele- brated his 70th anniversary in the priesthood. A celebratory mass culminated with a celebra- tory dinner at LeDome Banquet Hall. On a blog set up to honour Pucci, Father Robert Kosek, Provincial Superior for the Barnabite Order wrote: It was Saturday morning (Dec. 11, 2010) when I heard a phone ringing. It was Father Frank Ruzza telling me about the sudden death of a dear Barnabite confrere, Father Augusto Mary Pucci. Then I said a prayer. I felt a deep sense of loss of what I have been a part since I joined the Barnabite Fathers. Our oldest member of the North American Province The Patriarch of the Province just died. I am still in great shock. It is true that nothing even death can separate us from the people we love like Father Pucci. There are so many of us who loved and esteemed him for what he was and for what he believed in. All of us have some story to tell. I invite you to share your memo- ries and stories about Father Pucci, writes Kosek at http://frpucci.blogspot.com. Father Pucci passed away on Dec. 11 sometime before noon, resting in his easy chair after a long respiratory illness. He was 94, said Doris Wright, parish secretary. He travelled many destinations, but his great love was for hiking, mountain-climbing, music and reading. We thank him for his great dedication, spirituality, inspiring talks and just knowing 'he is a wonderful friend to us all, reads Puccis obituary. For almost 50 years you were our spiritu- al father, but to many of us you were also our dear friend. A friend we will always remember and cherish for the rest of our lives. Arrivederci Padre Pucci, wrote one blogger. There was visitation and a parish mass at St. James Church, 231 Morden Rd. on Monday and Tuesday. Today there will be a parish mass at 8:15 a.m. with visitation at St. James Church from 9-10:30 a.m. followed by a mass of Christian burial at 11 a.m. and interment at Fatima Shrine, Lewiston, New York. Condolences may be e-mailed through www.koprivataylor.com. In lieu of flowers, donations are being direct- ed to the St. James Church Building Fund. Father Pucci spent much of his 94 years building St. James, the church and its parish and tending to its people. Father Pucci was born a world away on Jan. 21, 1916 in Torino, Italy to the late Clotilde Trivulzio (who died at age 97) and Luigi Pucci (who died at age 83). His mother was from a storied Italian family and his father a general in the Italian army serving as chief administrator of finance for the Region of Liguria (Genoa). He is predeceased by siblings Attilio, Tullio (who died at age 12) and Julia. However, Father Pucci, in an interview with The Oakville Beaver at the time of the 70th anniversary of his ordination, recalled he was only six years old when he began instruc- tion under the Barnabites. He said he spent most of his youth in Genoa and studied biolo- gy and later earned his masters degree in chemistry. I was born in Torino, but I lived all my young life in Genoa, said Father Pucci, who moved to Genoa at age two. Father Pucci told the Beaver that the Barnabites, an order that was predominant in Italy, that followed the tenets of total selfless- ness, Christ-centred spirituality and selfless ministry to others, made an impression on him so much so that they inspired him to become a priest. I wanted to be like my teachers, they were good men, said Pucci. I had a desire to teach and be like them. In Grade 11, Father Pucci entered the Barnabite noviciate. He then spent four years in seminary in Rome and was ordained April 8, 1939 in St. John Laterano-Cathedral of Rome. In 1946 he started a summer home for young men, girls and their families in Allomont, Val D'Aosta (Alps Region). After his ordination, Father Pucci, returned to Genoa to teach and remained there 10 years until he was asked to travel to Buffalo, New York where a Barnabite seminary was being established next to the Lady of Fatima Shrine, which was built at the same time. He was named Father Superior of the Barnabites, Chaplain of the Sisters of Charity and Columbus Hospitals. Father Pucci said the order wanted to expand elsewhere in the world because it feared a Communist takeover under the threat of Joseph Stalin and the Communist Party. He remained in Buffalo for nine years before being asked to come to Oakville where a largely immigrant Italian community had asked for an Italian-speaking pastor. Father Pucci arrived in Canada in 1964 and was superior at the new St. James parish in Oakville. His partner, Father George Predelli, was the parishs first pastor. First we said mass in the Catholic Centre, then Father Predelli bought a little house that is not there anymore, said Father Pucci, recalling how St. James Church was original- ly built. A rectory was later added, then the church was ultimately enlarged. St. James had the distinction of being the first church in Canada with an altar facing the congregation. When we started, the congregation was around 1,000 families and our boundaries were from Kerr Street to Fourth Line and north to the QEW, recalled Father Pucci, remembering he used to visit families and became friends with most of his parishioners. He recalled how the parishioners learned English as a second language at a Kerr Street classroom and sought employment. Seven of the young parishioners at St. James chose the priesthood as their calling, including Fathers Lenssen and Ruzza, now both at St. James. Today, the boundaries are roughly the same, but the once predominantly Italian con- gregation is now mostly Portuguese, though it is representative of 30 different nationalities and languages. Though Father Pucci still travelled to Italy, he said, Now I feel more at home here than in Genoa. Father Pucci is survived by the children of his late sister Julia his niece, Tulia and nephew, Marco, both of whom are in their 60s. Among all the parishes in Oakville, St. James is one that has a feeling of community. The people, being so different from others in the community, bonded. They needed each other. When people are more the same, there is less togetherness, said Father Pucci. And though there may have been times when Pucci said he might have questioned his calling to the priesthood, as did others at the time of the Vatican Council II, he always remained steadfast. Father Pucci remained at St. James until 1990. He returned to Lewiston, New York, spent some time in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and in the Philippines, but returned to St. James in 1994 in his retirement. Although he was officially retired, Father Pucci still took Communion to the sick at the Oakville hospi- tal and celebrated mass at St. James. St. James parish mourns loss of Father Pucci OAKVILLE BEAVER FILE PHOTO Father Augusto Pucci, Jan. 21, 1916-Dec. 11, 2010