When asked when he was the happiest, Father Richard Gagliardi always replied, “When I’m celebrating Mass.”
Father Gagliardi, who had been a missionary in Africa, a pastor in the Midwest and a religious provincial before coming west to study at the Graduate Theological Union and later being incardinated in the Diocese of Oakland, died Dec. 7.
A priest for 60 years, Father Gagliardi was 95.
At his golden jubilee in 2012, Father Gagliardi offered this reflection on his vocation:
“It is who I am. I don’t think of being anything other than a priest. When I’m at the altar, I feel I belong there; that’s where I want to be. I love living here [in retirement at St. Joseph Parish in Pinole], where I can be next to the church, because that is who I am. It will always be the most important part of my life: to celebrate Mass and be one with the People of God. I am happiest when I am celebrating Mass.”
Father Richard Gagliardi was born, raised and educated in San Jose. During his college years at San Jose State, he joined the US Army and served for 364 days. He returned to college, but was drafted into the US Navy as had served one day less than a year.
He returned and finished his education while serving as president of the Newman Center at San Jose State. There he felt the calling to the priesthood as a missionary.
He joined the Consolata Missionary Fathers and was prepared for ordination in Fatima, Portugal; Turin, Italy; and the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
While in Washington, DC, he was asked to go to the airport to pick up two nuns from India. Much to his surprise, one of the nuns was Mother Teresa.
Father Gagliardi was ordained to the priesthood on Feb. 10, 1962, in Washington, DC.
His first assignment was to a parish and secondary school in Kenya, where he served for five years. He taught high school physics, chemistry, mathematics and religion during the week and celebrated Mass on weekends in the outlying missions.
Upon his return in 1967 to the United States, the Consolata Missionary Fathers named him vocation director, director of the Catholic Information Center and pastor of a parish in Muskegon, Michigan. Later they chose him as their provincial in the United States.
In Muskegon, Michigan, he served as pastor and director of the Catholic Information Center.
His mother had lived in Oakland for many years. As her health declined, he received permission to join the Diocese of Oakland.
He was incardinated in the diocese in 1984.
Father Gagliardi served at St. Bernard and St. Benedict parishes in Oakland before becoming pastor of St. Callistus Parish in El Sobrante in 1991. He retired in October 1997, and moved to nearby St. Joseph Parish in Pinole.
As he entered retirement, Father Gagliardi said he looked forward to continuing to celebrate Mass.
“You can’t retire from who you are,” he told The Catholic Voice at the time. “I enjoy and love celebrating Mass. People say they see that feel that. I would never be comfortable never saying Mass.”
When asked if he had advice for those discerning a vocation, he said a love for Jesus and the desire to serve others was necessary. “To think of others, not yourself.”
Father Gagliardi spent the last few years of his life living in at two Nazareth Houses for Seniors, one in San Rafael and the other in Fresno.
“He was truly a happy, kind and joyful person who always brought his deep faith, big smile and his beautiful singing voice along with him as he served his people with his great love of Christ,” said Rita Figueira, a longtime friend.
The Vigil for Father Gagliardi will be at 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 18 at St. Joseph Church in Pinole. The Funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Dec. 19 also at St. Joseph Church. Inurnment will follow at St. Joseph Cemetery in San Pablo.
