Father Anthony S. D’Angelo, S.D.B., longtime associate pastor of Holy Rosary Church in Birmingham, died on Wednesday morning, Sept. 22, at James A. Haley Veteran’s Hospital in Tampa. At 98 years of age, he was the second-oldest Salesian in the province.

Father D’Angelo served at Holy Rosary from 1997 to 2014, when the Salesians withdrew from that parish and St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Church in Leeds. He was noted as a “fiery priest from New York” who supported civil rights. He was active in the pro-life movement, as well. He wrote frequent guest columns for One Voice, Birmingham’s diocesan newspaper, usually on prayer or concern for the needy. On at least one occasion (Aug. 26, 2007) he wrote a long opinion piece for the Birmingham News protesting the poverty in, and official neglect of, Mark’s Village, a “project” adjacent to Holy Rosary Church.

Father D’Angelo had been a member of the Tampa Salesian community since 2018, residing at St. Philip the Apostle Residence for senior confreres. He was a professed Salesian for 64 years and a priest for 54 years.

Father D’Angelo was born to Mariano and Catherine Cannistra D’Angelo on July 17, 1923, in New York City. In October he was baptized at the church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Coatesville, Pa. At age ten he was confirmed at the Salesian parish of Mary Help of Christians in Manhattan.

Father D’Angelo attended a Manhattan trade school and learned to be a butcher. He got some jobs in grocery store meat departments before he was drafted into the Army in 1942.

Father D’Angelo served in the U.S. Army during World War II, mostly in the European Theater, according to his brother Sal. He progressed with the Allied advance from England through France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, doing supply services (hauling food, gas, and ammunition to the front) and, Sal thinks, also guarding German POWs (maybe on return trips). When Germany surrendered, he was transferred to the Philippines, apparently to prepare for the invasion of Japan that didn’t happen. He returned to the U.S. and was discharged in 1946.

In his senior years Father Tony was brought to Washington on “Honor Flights,” a veterans program in tribute to their WWII service—once from Birmingham and once from New Rochelle. He enjoyed these greatly.

From Sal D’Angelo we learn that on returning home, Father D’Angelo went back to the butcher’s trade in a store his mother had opened. He enjoyed taking his kid brother (18 years his junior) to Yankee games and other sporting events. After some years, he found a job at the Post Office. When he began to think about becoming a priest, he went to consult the pastor at Mary Help of Christians on East 12th Street. According to Sal, the priest told Father D’Angelo that since he worked well with kids, he should become a Salesian. So he applied to the late vocations program at Don Bosco Seminary in Newton, N.J.

Father D’Angelo entered the seminary in January 1955. In September 1956 he began novitiate in Newton and made his first profession on Sept. 8, 1957.

Brother D’Angelo graduated from Don Bosco College with a B.A. in philosophy in 1960 and was dispatched to Mary Help of Christians School in Tampa for practical training (1960-1963), where all but one or two of the roughly 140 boys were boarders. Brother D’Angelo taught grades 5-8. In addition, like the other “clerics,” he assisted in the dining room and the 120-bed dormitory and at recreation and daily chores. He also was on the summer camp staff.

Brother D’Angelo studied theology at Bollengo, near Ivrea, Italy, from 1963 to 1967 and was ordained in Ivrea on March 18, 1967.

As a priest, Father D’Angelo served six years as guidance counselor at Salesian High School in New Rochelle, N.Y. (1973-1979), and in fact was licensed as a school psychologist in New York. He earned an M.A. in pastoral counseling at Iona College, New Rochelle, in 1971, followed by a doctorate from Fordham University in 1976.

But most of Father D’Angelo’s priestly ministry was in parishes: he served as assistant pastor at Holy Rosary in Port Chester, N.Y. (1967-1971), Mary Help of Christians in Manhattan (1971-1973, 1983-1996), and St. Ann in Manhattan (1981-1983). He was pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Harlem, N.Y., from 1979 to 1981. He was also a hospital chaplain in Manhattan for 13 years (1983-1996), and served at Sacred Heart Retreat Center in Ipswich, Mass., for one year (1996-1997).

While he was assigned to Port Chester, he was appointed to the regional board of directors of the Port Chester Citizens Anti-Poverty Association, being cited as “well liked in our community and relating well to all people.”

Before he moved south, he was a supporter of civil rights and the right to life in New York City. He wrote occasional letters to the editor of Catholic New York, e.g., on June 8, 1995, protesting that boxing is immoral and the following week encouraging prayer.

Approaching his 50th anniversary of profession and 40th of ordination in 2007, once again he expressed his commitment to prayer. He also displayed some of his typical humor: when people suggested he consider retiring, he wrote, “I retire every night, and with the grace of the Lord come out of retirement every morning at 5:30….”

At age 91 Father D’Angelo finally retired to the provincial house in New Rochelle in 2014. As his health weakened, he transferred to the assisted living home in Tampa in 2018.

Father Bill Keane, his director in New Rochelle, pays this tribute to Father D’Angelo: “I certainly admired his perseverance and his friendliness with people. I also remember his coyly getting out his opinion on some matters. His conversations and his experiences were very interesting when he spoke about them.”

Father D’Angelo is survived by his younger brother Sal (wife Joyce) of New Jersey and 13 nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his sisters Mary and Josie.