Fr. James Chiosso, SDB

Fr. James Chiosso, SDB (1922-2011)

Fr. James Louis (Giacomo Lodovico) Chiosso died on the morning of Jan. 31, 2011, in Turin. He was 88 and had been a Salesian for more than 70 years, a priest for more than 61 years. Suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for many years, since January 2005 he had resided at Casa Andrea Beltrami, a Salesian nursing care facility.

Fr. Jim Chiosso was born to Antonio and Maria Appendino Chiosso at Pralormo in the province of Turin on Aug. 25, 1922. He frequented the Salesians’ San Paolo Oratory in Turin and enrolled in the Salesian high school at Avigliana in 1938, from which he entered the novitiate at Pinerolo in 1939. He made his profession of religious vows on Aug. 16, 1940, at Pinerolo. After philosophy studies at Istituto San Michele at Foglizzo, and simultaneously earning a B.S. in electrical engineering at the Politecnico di Torino, he did practical training in the Salesian high school at Valsalice (Turin) from 1943 to 1945. He studied theology at Istituto Cardinale Cagliero in Ivrea from 1946 to 1949 and was ordained in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians at Turin on July 3, 1949.

Fr. Jim returned to the Valsalice school after ordination, and a year later was transferred to the technical school at the Salesian motherhouse in Valdocco to teach electronics.

In 1953 Fr. Jim came to the U.S., recruited by the New Rochelle Province’s superior, Fr. Ernest Giovannini, who wanted to develop technical education in our province. From scratch Fr. Jim founded the electronics department at Don Bosco Tech in Paterson (1953-1967), excelling as a teacher. He was noted for precision, thoroughness, and—particularly important in a shop—cleanliness. In 1967-1968 he served as coordinator of campus ministry and chairman of the math department at Salesian High School in Richmond, Calif., helping the school win an accreditation.

In view of an assignment to Salesiana Publishers and Distributors (SPAD) in New Rochelle, he spent the 1968-1969 year at one of the Salesians’ most prestigious publishing and media centers, Elle Di Ci (LDC) in Leumann (Turin). But before he could undertake the media assignment he was given a more urgent one to the teaching staff of Archbishop Shaw High School in Marrero for one year. So he came to SPAD in 1970, which not long after changed its name to Don Bosco Multimedia. There, writes Fr. John Malloy, who was provincial at the time and later was president of Don Bosco Multimedia (1983-1987), Fr. Jim “was a loyal companion and steady worker, completely devoted to the spreading of Salesian catechetical publications of all types. As an innovator, he worked closely with the multimedia center of Turin. He always had grand hopes for the future of our New Rochelle work, and with Fr. Perozzi and our team at the Media Center was instrumental in reaching Catholic schools all over the country.” In particular, Fr. Jim as vice president produced and marketed numerous educational media programs, often in tandem with LDC, including most notably a classroom edition of Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth.

In 1986 Fr. Jim took an assignment at Salesian Missions in New Rochelle as program director, providing technical, managerial, and financial support to Salesian missionary and development projects all over the Third World, and serving as liaison between such works and the U.S. Agency for International Development and various NGOs and foundations. His organizational and communications skills were just what was needed for these responsibilities.

Fr. Ed Cappelletti, director of Salesian Missions from 1959 to 1996, states: “Fr. Jim worked with me both in Paterson [where Fr. Cappelletti was prefect of studies from 1953 to 1955] and the mission office. A brilliant man, truly a man for all seasons, he was an excellent organizer, and with his calm and affable personality was able to persuade others to cooperate in his endeavors.”

Fr. Cappelletti adds that Fr. Chiosso had a “patient, quiet way of working, an appearance that belied his accomplishments. He brought Christ to people and people to Christ not so much by preaching but by example. His kind, patient ways with youngsters, his love for perfection and thoroughness, have brought order and accomplishment into the lives of so many young people. He wrote his priesthood in their hearts and in their lives.”

“His many friends will sorely miss him,” concludes Fr. Cappelletti.

During many of his years in New Rochelle, Fr. Jim continued to work with young men as an instructor in sailing, scuba diving, and celestial navigation. He was active in Sea Scouts. (A story about his teaching youngster to sail ran in the local newspaper, the Standard-Star, in August 1977.)

In failing health, he retired to the Marian Shrine in Haverstraw-Stony Point in 1999, and in 2005 returned to Turin to be near his family but remained a member of the New Rochelle Province. He is survived by his brother Giorgio of Turin.

In accordance with his family’s wishes, the funeral was celebrated in the parish church of his hometown, Pralormo, on Feb. 2, with the vice provincial, Fr. Silvio Carlin, as celebrant. Fr. Jim was buried in the family sepulcher.