At every Mass he celebrates these days, Father Gregory Maturi asks his parishioners to “pray for Angeline and her family, for St. Dominic Parish and for the city of Youngstown.” Since much-beloved parishioner Angeline Fimognari, 80, was murdered outside St. Dominic Church after morning Mass Jan. 23, the pastor of the parish also prays “to Angeline,” he said.
“She was a saintly woman who loved us, and our faith teaches us that we can ask for her intercession,” the Dominican priest explained in an Exponent interview. “Angeline’s favorite saint was St. Padre Pio. She got her inspiration to love the Church, to love the Mass and to spend time with our Lord before the Blessed Sacrament from him. I expect miracles from them both,” the pastor smiled.
Father Maturi said Miss Fimognari’s tragic death has provoked two lingering emotions in parishioners. “The first is tremendous sorrow over this tragic loss of someone we loved. The second is a resoluteness in parishioners to not let some evil guy keep them from coming to the church they love.”
“It’s a very heartening thing for me to be associated with such people,” said the priest, who has been pastor of St. Dominic only since November. “I’m blessed to have such a good parish,” said the priest, whose previous service to the Church was college campus ministry in various states. The St. Dominic parishioners are “people who love the Church and their Catholic faith. They are very supportive of the parish – and they love their Dominican priests,” he said.
The killing of Miss Fimognari is a huge loss to her own large family, “but it is a tragedy for us as well,” Father Maturi said. “Angeline was very much a part of our family here.”
He described Miss Fimognari as extremely devout, spending “three to four hours a day at the church” in prayer. Not only was she a daily communicant, she attended both the 6:30 a.m. and the 8 a.m. Masses each day. And on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when the parish held Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, she was at the church even longer, he pointed out. “Her many hours of adoration sustained her in her Christian life, both as a single woman and as a ‘surrogate’ mother for many of her 17 nieces and nephews,” Father Maturi wrote in St. Dominic’s Jan. 31 parish bulletin.
In his homilies since her death, Father Maturi said he has talked about what a holy woman Miss Fimognari was. “She was a model for all of us. In life and in death, she witnessed to the importance of the Eucharist. Just before she died, she received the Eucharist. The Lord was with her till the end,” he said.
Contrary to what some people might think, he said, Mass attendance at St. Dominic has not decreased since Miss Fimognari’s death. In fact, he believes it has increased, possibly because parishioners (and those not registered with the parish but who frequent the church) wanted to pray for Miss Fimognari and because they have felt a close bond to the parish since the homicide. “This terrible tragedy may have been a catalyst for those not attending on a regular basis to reestablish themselves with the Church,” Father Maturi said.
The loss has also brought the Youngstown community closer and strengthened it, the priest added. “People have been here for us and know we are here to offer whatever resources we have to the greater community.”
He added that he was very impressed with the way the parish was treated, in the aftermath of the crime, by Mayor Jay Williams, 6th Ward Councilwoman Janet Tarpley, Police Chief Jimmy Hughes and law authorities as well as the news media. “Everyone was very respectful. They respected that we were grieving,” did not sensationalize the story and considered the church “a sacred place,” he said. There was “a great outpouring of goodwill” from other Catholic parishes, from Protestant churches and from non-Christian congregations, the priest added.
“And, of course, Bishop [George] Murry’s presence at the parish [on Jan. 27] was a tremendous help,” Father Maturi said. “The parishioners felt very close to him. His presence showed that the Church was with them – that he cared about us.”
The bishop had issued a statement earlier in the week, calling the homicide “a horrific and shocking event in and of itself, but especially because it occurred at a holy place.” He said church officials were “working with the police to bring the perpetrator to justice and also to bring peace and healing to the victim’s family.” (On Jan. 29, police arrested 18-year-old Jamar Houser in connection with the death.)
On the day the bishop celebrated Mass at St. Dominic, it was the feast day of St. Angela Merici, foundress of the Ursuline Sisters. In his homily, Bishop Murry made a connection between St. Angela and Angeline, whose names are so similar. The bishop pointed out that Angela Merici turned great sorrow in her life into something beautiful. Likewise, Miss Fimognari’s family, friends and fellow parishioners face extreme sorrow with her death. “But even in the midst of this sorrow, the life of St. Angela can lead us to realize that sorrow is not the end of the story,” the bishop said. “God brings life out of death.” He asked the community to follow Miss Fimognari’s example of prayer for others, so that their sorrow over the death of this “kind and gentle woman” would be transformed into love for God and others. After the Mass, Bishop Murry spent “a long time, being with and talking to the people, and they really appreciated that,” their pastor added.
The funeral for Miss Fimognari, held at Boardman St. Charles Parish later that morning, was also beautiful, Father Maturi said, with Father Nicholas Shori delivering a moving homily. Father Shori talked about the fact that, by virtue of Baptism, Christians are part of “a sacred communion which binds all people to one another, personally, parish-wise and community-wise.” Whether or not they knew Miss Fimognari, the community came to mourn her and support her parish. And, Miss Fimognari, herself, had a special “ministry of presence.” People with this ministry are known within a community just by “being there.” People recognize them, and their very presence affects other people in a positive way, he said.
Along similar lines, Father Maturi said that his fellow Dominican priests have all remarked that daily Mass at the parish “will not be the same without Angeline sitting in the pews.”
Members of the St. Dominic congregation have described their fellow parishioner, “Angie,” as exactly the type of person Father Shori described. Lori Neill, a parishioner for 30 years, said she has attended the parish’s 6:30 a.m. Mass each day for years and always saw Angie at that Mass. Sometimes, when Neill couldn’t attend the early Mass, she would come to the 8 a.m. Mass and see Angie there. “I realized that she couldn’t possibly be attending the same Mass I was every single day, and that’s when I concluded that she was attending both Masses.
“I remember, several years ago, when Angie was diagnosed with cancer. We all prayed for her, and even if we didn’t know her well, we knew who that dear, sweet lady was. We also knew she had very likely prayed for all of us during some of the time she spent in church every day.”
Neill agreed with Father Maturi – and many St. Dominic parishioners – that the people are staunch in their belief that, in spite of this unspeakable tragedy, nothing will keep them from attending the church they love. Neill remembered when, due to less serious incidents of crime, the previous pastor, Dominican Father Joseph Allen had fences and security cameras put in place on the property. Since the death of Miss Fimognari, Neill said she still attends daily Mass. “My husband and I [both in their upper 60s] are not afraid, but we are more cautious now.”
St. Dominic Parish has 1,200 parishioners, many of whom are senior citizens, but there are also “a good number of young families,” including 70 students in the CCD program and an active youth group, Father Maturi said. The parish plant is the most secure of any parish, with a gated fence around the complex, 23 surveillance cameras and security at all weekend Masses – and now at all three daily Masses as well, he said.