Father Vincent R. Capodanno: Remembering Staten Island’s U.S. Navy Chaplain

Father Vincent R. Capodanno

The EWTN documentary, Called and Chosen – Father Vincent R. Capodanno, will debut during late August and early September. Photo Credit: EWTN Used with Permission

Maryknoll Priest And Servant of God May Become U.S. Saint

On September 4, 1967, Vincent R. Capodanno lost his life in Vietnam. Killed in action at the age of 38 near the village of Dong Son, he was posthumously awarded, among other citations, the Navy Bronze Star medal, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star, the Purple Heart Medal and the Medal of Honor for heroic actions above and beyond the call of duty.

Father Capodanno, a Maryknoll priest from Staten Island, was a United States Navy chaplain serving with the United States Marines. His Medal of Honor citation reads, in part:

…Lt. Capodanno left the relative safety of the company command post and ran through an open area raked with fire, directly to the beleaguered platoon. Disregarding the intense enemy small-arms, automatic-weapons, and mortar fire, he moved about the battlefield administering last rites to the dying and giving medical aid to the wounded. When an exploding mortar round inflicted multiple painful wounds to his arms and legs, and severed a portion of his right hand, he steadfastly refused all medical aid…Upon encountering a wounded corpsman in the direct line of fire of an enemy machine gunner positioned approximately 15 yards away, Lt. Capodanno rushed a daring attempt to aid and assist the mortally wounded corpsman. At that instant, only inches from his goal, he was struck down by a burst of machine gun fire…

 EWTN Documentary

For more than a year, a documentary about the life of Father Capodanno has been supported by the Father Vincent Capodanno Guild that also is overseeing his cause for canonization. The film, Called and Chosen – Father Vincent R. Capodanno, will debut on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network that presents Catholic programming) on Wednesday, August 30, at 10 p.m.

Prior to the broadcast, at 8 p.m., a special episode of EWTN Live will feature a discussion about the documentary with Capodanno Guild Chairman George Phillips, Vice-Postulator for the Cause Mary Preece and Producer James Kelty. Follow-up debut broadcasts of the documentary are scheduled for Saturday, September 2, at 3 p.m., and Monday, September 4, at 3 p.m. All times are east coast times.

Catholic Mission And Military Service

Born on February 13, 1929, Vincent Capodanno was the tenth child of Italian immigrant parents Vincent and Rachel. He graduated from Curtis High School during February 1947 and attended Fordham University for one year. While working as a clerk in Manhattan, the young Capodanno decided to enter the Maryknoll Society seminary in Ossining, New York. He entered the seminary on June 25, 1949 and took his first oath as a priest on August 30, 1954. Father Capodanno was ordained a Maryknoll Missioner on June 14, 1958.

The Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, more well-known as the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, was founded during 1911 and continues today to follow Jesus in serving the poor and others in need in more than 20 countries that include the United States. Maryknoll missioners share God’s love and the Gospel in addressing poverty, providing healthcare, building communities and promoting human rights.

Father Capodanno’s first mission assignment was in Miaoli in Formosa (present day Taiwan). He served in a mountain parish and school. Seven years later, he was transferred to the Maryknoll school in Hong Kong to serve as a teacher. Not pleased with the assignment, Father Capodanno asked to return to Taiwan. After several requests were denied, he asked his superiors, during August 1965, for permission to serve as a U.S. Navy chaplain in Vietnam. U.S. Navy chaplains also serve the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Previous Maryknoll priests had served as chaplains in the U.S. military. Father Capodanno sought to continue that tradition. A brother had been a Marine during World War II and, possibly for this reason, Father Capodanno expressed the desire to serve as a Marine chaplain.

When permission was granted, Father Capodanno volunteered immediately for duty. On December 28, he received his commission as a lieutenant and requested to serve with the Fleet Marine Force in Vietnam. After training, Father Capodanno was assigned, during April 1966, to the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, First Marine Division in South Vietnam. He transferred that December to the 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Marine Division. After his one-year tour was completed, Father Capodanno extended his tour of duty in South Vietnam.

During July 1967, Father Capodanno was assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. One month later, he was assigned to H&S (Headquarters and Service) Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division.

Father Vincent R. Capodanno, The Grunt Padre, prays with U.S. Marines in Vietnam. Photo Credit: Maryknoll Mission Archives. Used with permission

On September 4, 1967, at 4:30 a.m., during Operation Swift in the Thang Binh District of the Que Son Valley, elements of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines engaged a large North Vietnamese Army unit of approximately 2,500 men near the village of Dong Son. Outnumbered and disorganized, Company D of the 1st Battalion reported by 9:14 a.m. that 26 Marines were confirmed dead and that two rifle companies from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines were committed to the battle. Within minutes, a request was made for reinforcements.

When two platoons of M Company from the battalion started to take casualties and were about to be overrun, Father Capodanno decided to reach out to the wounded and dying, helping them when he could and administering last rites. Fifteen Marines and two corpsmen were killed with Father Capodanno. Scheduled to return to the U.S. during October, instead Father Capodanno’s body was recovered and returned home. He is interred in his family’s plot in Saint Peters Cemetery in the West New Brighton section of Staten Island.

Cause For Canonization

Capodanno’s Cause for Canonization officially opened on May 19, 2002 and initial documentation was submitted to Rome during May 2004. On May 21, 2006, a Public Decree of Servant of God was issued by the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services. The formal renewal of the opening of the Cause for Beatification of Father Capodanno occurred on October 13, 2013 with the Father Vincent Capodanno Guild serving as the Petitioner of the Cause.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services completed its nearly four-year inquiry into Father Capodanno’s life. The findings have been submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome.

For more information about the Cause for Father Vincent Capodanno’s canonization, please contact the Father Vincent Capodanno Guild, PO Box 29424, 1025 Michigan Avenue NE, Washington DC 20117. The phone number is 202-719-3642. Email for Mary Preece is mpreece@milarch.org .

Father Capodanno Remembered

Father Capodanno’s nickname among his fellow Marines was “The Grunt Padre.” Father Daniel Mode wrote a biography with the same name and the EWTN documentary is partially based on the contents of the book. The book and the documentary include moving first-hand testimonies by the marines who knew and served with Father Capodanno.

Father Vincent R. Capodanno

A photograph from the set of Called and Chosen – Father Vincent R. Capodanno. Photo Credit: Father Vincent Capodanno Guild. Used with permission.

At the Maryknoll Society Center in New York’s Westchester County, an exhibit at the Maryknoll Museum of Living Mission pays tribute to Father Capodanno. The display, which will be featured through the summer of 2018, contains several personal artifacts along with photos from the EWTN documentary. Maryknoll is located at 55 Ryder Road in Ossining. Museum hours are Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Admission is free.

On Staten Island, Seaside Boulevard was renamed Father Capodanno Boulevard during 1975. The north-south artery travels through the Arrochar, South Beach, Ocean Breeze, Midland Beach and New Dorp Beach neighborhoods. Capodanno Drive can be located on the property of the naval base in Newport, Rhode Island.

The USS Capodanno, with the motto “Duty with Honor,” was the 42nd Knox-class frigate in the U.S. Navy. On its first Mediterranean Sea deployment, the ship conducted search and rescue operations on four occasions and saved 22 lives. Subsequent deployments were to the Middle East Force, South America, the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean. The ship, the first in the U.S. Fleet to receive a Papal Blessing, was decommissioned on July 30, 1993 and leased to Turkey where it was recommissioned as TCG Muavenet. Subsequently sold to Turkey, the ship was removed from active service during 2012.

Soon after Father Capodanno’s death, the first chapel bearing his name was dedicated on Hill 51 in Que Son Valley, Vietnam. Father Capodanno had helped build the chapel from thatched palms and bamboo. During February 1968, the chapel at the Navy Chaplains School at Newport, Rhode Island, was dedicated as the Capodanno Memorial Chapel. Other military chapels and commemorations are located in Oakland, California, Camp Pendleton, California, Fort Wadsworth, New York, Iwakuni, Japan, and Thiankou, Taiwan. Military buildings bearing Father Capodonno’s name are located in Gaeta, Italy, San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard in California and at Millington, Tennessee. Father Capodanno’s name also appears on many veterans memorials throughout the United States.

Two artists have commemorated Father Capodanno’s heroic final moments. An oil painting by Douglas Rosa is displayed at the Chaplain School in Newport and a bronze statue by Antonio Pierotti stands at Fort Wadsworth. The painting depicts the priest’s struggle to rescue a dying corpsman while the sculpture reveals a calm and prayerful chaplain administering to a Marine. Another sculpture is located in Gaeta’s town square that is named for Father Capodanno.

Annual awards and scholarships continue to honor Father Capodanno. Since 1971, the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation designates a recipient among children of Marine Corps members. During 2002, the former Chaplain of the Year Award was renamed the Father Vincent Capodanno Chaplain of the Year Award. Sixteen Knights of Columbus assemblies and councils throughout the United States have chosen Father Capodanno as their patron. Several posts of the Veterans of Foreign Wars also have honored the chaplain.

Fr. Vincent R. Capodanno photo

Father Vincent R. Capodanno, Maryknoll missioner killed in action in Vietnam on September 4, 1967. Photo Credit: Maryknoll Mission Archives. Used with permission.

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