Rev. Thomas E. Fitzpatrick, CSV, reached a rare milestone among his Viatorian confreres: He celebrated 70 years in religious life and 62 years in the priesthood.
Fr. Fitzpatrick, who served at many Viatorian parishes and was the founding pastor of St. Viator Catholic Community in Las Vegas, died Nov. 6, 1984. He was 89.
His long life with the Viatorians began when he entered the novitiate in 1913. He studied at St. Viator College in Bourbonnais and completed his seminary training there.
The majority of Fr. Fitzpatrick’s religious life and priestly ministry was spent in parochial work. He served as pastor at St. Patrick Parish in Kankakee from 1932 – 1942, at St. Viator Parish in Chicago from 1942 – 1948, at St. Viator Parish in Las Vegas from 1954 – 1958; and at St. Mary Parish in Beaverville from 1956 – 1959.
His other parochial assignments included St. Edward Parish, the Church of the Divine Savior and a second tenure at St. Viator Parish, all in Chicago.
Fr. Fitzpatrick served as chaplain at the Chicago Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium for five years and also at Mother of Sorrows Institute for seven. During the last years of his life, Fr. “Fitz” was a resident of Little Company of Mary Retirement Home in San Pierre, Indiana.
A wake was held Nov. 8 at Theis-Gorski Funeral Home in Chicago, followed one day later by a Mass of the Resurrection on Nov. 9 at St. Viator Parish. Burial took place at Queen of Heaven Cemetery.
Taken from a letter to the Viatorian Community from the Acting Provincial, Rev. Patrick W. Render, CSV