Bro. John Cauda died on Jan. 21, 2010, at Nyack (N.Y.) Hospital after a short illness. He was 87.
Bro. John was born at Montá d’Alba, Italy, on July 27, 1922, to Agostino and Anna Calorio Cauda. He was baptized three days later in the parish church of St. Anthony the Abbot.
Bro. John studied at the Salesians’ well known trades and professional school in Turin, Conte Rebaudengo, which he entered in 1935. From there he was admitted to the novitiate at Villa Moglia, Chieri, in 1939 and made his first religious profession there on Aug. 16, 1940.
After two years of additional training, he was assigned to the huge Bernardi Semeria technical school at Colle Don Bosco, near Castelnuovo, to teach cabinetmaking. He was a master craftsman and a dedicated instructor. He taught there for four years.
In 1946 Bro. John was among a cadre of brothers recruited to come to the U.S. when the New Rochelle Province needed skilled craftsmen for its technical schools. He was first assigned to Don Bosco College in Newton, N.J., to learn English and teach his craft to young brothers and aspirants to the brotherhood.
In 1948 he was one of the founders of Don Bosco Technical High School in Paterson, N.J., where he taught until 1961, as well as in three more postings, 1965-1969, 1971-1981, and 1997-2002. He guided not only the high school students in the cabinetmaking shop—who included aspirants to the brotherhood in the 1948-1961 period—but also young Salesian brothers who were learning the craft.
When the brotherhood aspirants and young brothers moved to Don Bosco Juniorate in Haverstraw, N.Y., in 1961, Bro. John moved with them and taught there for four years. He returned the Haverstraw in 1969-1971, after the aspirantate had closed, as part of the staff of the Marian Shrine.
In additional to wood work that still needed to be done, Bro. John was blessed with a green thumb and did a lot of gardening, maintaining beautiful shrubs and flower beds to please visitors to the Shrine and flowers to adorn the chapels and outdoor altar.
He was also on the Shrine staff from 1983 to 1997, serving as the administrator of Blue Gate, the Salesian nursing care facility on the Stony Point part of the property, from 1983 to 1988. It was during this 16-year period that one of his directors came up with a great many projects for him to do. One morning this superior announced at breakfast, “Bro. John, I had a dream about you last night,” meaning that another project was about to come. With his dry wit, Bro. John responded, “Your dreams are my nightmares!”
Bro. John retired to the Marian Shrine in 2002 after Don Bosco Tech closed. Late last year he moved into Northern Riverview Nursing Home in Haverstraw; he remained a member of the Marian Shrine Salesian community.
Bro. John also had a two-year assignment at the provincial house in New Rochelle, N.Y. (1981-1983).
Bro. Bruno Busatto, SDB, who knew Bro. John for 60 years, states that Bro. John “was very generous with his time and never refused a favor, especially where work was concerned.”
Fr. Steven Dumais, Bro. John’s superior for seven years at the Marian Shrine, writes: “Bro. John took to heart Don Bosco’s promise to those who faithfully followed Christ in the Salesian Society: they would have bread, work, and paradise! Bro. John certainly exemplified the sanctity of the work ethic, and so we believe he is now enjoying his place in the Salesian garden in paradise.”
Former Salesian Charles Vaughn wrote to say simply, “What a wonderful man and brother he was.”
“He will certainly be missed by all who knew him,” lamented Salesian Cooperator Judy Kallmyer. “I always looked forward to seeing him when I would go to the Shrine.”
Many of his confreres and friends remember Bro. John as a very unassuming man who never wanted the spotlight. In this he was like many of the coadjutor brothers of his generation. Fr. Anthony Mastroeni, a diocesan priest who grew up in a Salesian parish, writes: “I remember him fondly from his days here in Paterson and also at Camp Savio. The coadjutors were the backbone of the Congregation: not seen often, but without them the body could not stand or walk.”
Bro. John’s funeral rites were celebrated at the Marian Shrine in Haverstraw on Friday nite and Saturday morning, Jan. 22-23, and he was buried in the Salesian Cemetery in Goshen, N.Y.
After two years of additional training, he was assigned to the huge Bernardi Semeria technical school at Colle Don Bosco, near Castelnuovo, to teach cabinetmaking. He was a master craftsman and a dedicated instructor. He taught there for four years.
In 1946 Bro. John was among a cadre of brothers recruited to come to the U.S. when the New Rochelle Province needed skilled craftsmen for its technical schools. He was first assigned to Don Bosco College in Newton, N.J., to learn English and teach his craft to young brothers and aspirants to the brotherhood.
In 1948 he was one of the founders of Don Bosco Technical High School in Paterson, N.J., where he taught until 1961, as well as in three more postings, 1965-1969, 1971-1981, and 1997-2002. He guided not only the high school students in the cabinetmaking shop—who included aspirants to the brotherhood in the 1948-1961 period—but also young Salesian brothers who were learning the craft.
When the brotherhood aspirants and young brothers moved to Don Bosco Juniorate in Haverstraw, N.Y., in 1961, Bro. John moved with them and taught there for four years. He returned the Haverstraw in 1969-1971, after the aspirantate had closed, as part of the staff of the Marian Shrine.
In additional to wood work that still needed to be done, Bro. John was blessed with a green thumb and did a lot of gardening, maintaining beautiful shrubs and flower beds to please visitors to the Shrine and flowers to adorn the chapels and outdoor altar.
He was also on the Shrine staff from 1983 to 1997, serving as the administrator of Blue Gate, the Salesian nursing care facility on the Stony Point part of the property, from 1983 to 1988. It was during this 16-year period that one of his directors came up with a great many projects for him to do. One morning this superior announced at breakfast, “Bro. John, I had a dream about you last night,” meaning that another project was about to come. With his dry wit, Bro. John responded, “Your dreams are my nightmares!”
Bro. John retired to the Marian Shrine in 2002 after Don Bosco Tech closed. Late last year he moved into Northern Riverview Nursing Home in Haverstraw; he remained a member of the Marian Shrine Salesian community.
Bro. John also had a two-year assignment at the provincial house in New Rochelle, N.Y. (1981-1983).
Bro. Bruno Busatto, SDB, who knew Bro. John for 60 years, states that Bro. John “was very generous with his time and never refused a favor, especially where work was concerned.”
Fr. Steven Dumais, Bro. John’s superior for seven years at the Marian Shrine, writes: “Bro. John took to heart Don Bosco’s promise to those who faithfully followed Christ in the Salesian Society: they would have bread, work, and paradise! Bro. John certainly exemplified the sanctity of the work ethic, and so we believe he is now enjoying his place in the Salesian garden in paradise.”
Former Salesian Charles Vaughn wrote to say simply, “What a wonderful man and brother he was.”
“He will certainly be missed by all who knew him,” lamented Salesian Cooperator Judy Kallmyer. “I always looked forward to seeing him when I would go to the Shrine.”
Many of his confreres and friends remember Bro. John as a very unassuming man who never wanted the spotlight. In this he was like many of the coadjutor brothers of his generation. Fr. Anthony Mastroeni, a diocesan priest who grew up in a Salesian parish, writes: “I remember him fondly from his days here in Paterson and also at Camp Savio. The coadjutors were the backbone of the Congregation: not seen often, but without them the body could not stand or walk.”
Bro. John’s funeral rites were celebrated at the Marian Shrine in Haverstraw on Friday nite and Saturday morning, Jan. 22-23, and he was buried in the Salesian Cemetery in Goshen, N.Y.
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