On the solemnity of the annual celebration of the Catholic feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary recently, this author was invited by Jean O. Ng, an ardent parishioner of Saint Therese Church in the City of Alhambra, to experience the solemn rite of ordination to the sacred priesthood of Fr. Peter Mary Vecellio, of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, O.C.D.
Fr. Peter was born in Minneapolis, MN. to parents: Raymund and Mary Vecellio, but was raised in the town of Minnetonka, MN. He attended St. Joseph’s Catholic Grade School and Benilde-St. Margaret’s Catholic High School. He further attended the University of Minnesota, but graduated at the Franciscan University of Steubenville.
Celebration of the Catholic feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
While at Franciscan University, he went through a major conversion in his life where he felt the “calling” to “offer his whole life to God ,” and become a priest. It was his mother, through the intercession of the Blessed Mother, who played an important role in guiding him go through the whole process.
Fr. Peter chose to join the Order of Discalced Carmelites (O.C.D) because for him, “ultimately St. Therese and Our Lady led him to the Carmelite order and he was attracted to the Carmelites’ emphasis on prayer and the contemplative life.”
According to historical accounts, the Order of Discalced Carmelites “was juristically erected in 1593 * They are commonly known as Secular Carmelites and they are an integral part of the Discalced Carmelite Order (OCD) and they are juristically dependent upon the Discalced Carmelite Friars., who are in ‘fraternal communion’ with them and the cloistered Nuns of the Order. They share the same charisma with the Friars and Nuns, each according to his or her particular state of life, forming a single family with the same spirituality, and called by God to holiness and apostolic mission.
A solemn rite of ordination to the sacred priesthood of Fr. Peter Mary Vecellio, of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, O.C.D.
There are two Carmelite Orders in the Church: the Carmelite Order of the Ancient Observance (O. Cram.) and the Discalced Carmelite Order (OCD). The Discalced became a separate order under Teresa of Avila, so as to return to the more austere and contemplative life lived by the first Carmelites, and eventually by the end of the seventeenth (17th) century, the Discalced developed their own secular order. ‘Discalced,’ meant ‘shoeless’ signifying their great austerity. But seculars do not consider foregoing shoes to be a necessity for living internal austerity and poverty, Members of the OCDS on the other hand, are distinct from the secular order known as the Lay Carmelites (T.O.Carm.).”
Soon after Father Vicellio’s ordination, he is currently assigned to serve at the EL Carmelo Retreat House in Redlands, California where his goal is to serve the best way he can in doing retreat work as well as to grow in his love and dedication to the saints of Carmel and of the Carmelite charisma of prayer and transforming union with God.”
Surely, all of us who attended his ordination do wish him well in his chosen vocation and we’re hopeful that some of the younger generation can follow in his footsteps. May the Lord be always with you Father in all your religious undertakings.