Fr. Francis Xavier Aracil, SDB (1934-2024)

Fr. Francis Xavier Aracil, SDB (1934-2024)

Fr. Javier at his 50th anniversary of ordination,
 2013 (province archives)

Fr. Francis Xavier Aracil, almost always called Fr. Javier, died at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, N.Y., on Wednesday, December 18. He was 90 years old and had belonged to the Marian Shrine community of Haverstraw-Stony Point, N.Y., since 2018. He was a Salesian for 72 years and a priest for 61 years.

He’d been given a 90th birthday party by his community and guests on Sept. 13, but suffered a health setback soon after and needed medical care in Suffern.

Javier was born at Alcoy (Alicante province), Spain, on Sept. 4, 1934, to Baldomero and Concepcion Gosalbez Aracil. He was baptized 3 days later in the parish church, Santa Maria. The family included 4 boys and a girl. They suffered a lot during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939); Javier’s father and grandfather were arrested by the Communists,, and he had to go as an infant to another family for proper care for 3 years.

Javier enrolled in a Salesian school in Barcelona in 1948, and from there he was admitted to the novitiate at Arbos Del Panades (Barcelona) in 1951. There were 39 novices when 1951 when  Salesian rosters were reported to Turin. (The other 2 provinces of Spain at that time also had novitiates full of novices.) During the novitiate, Javier applied to go to the missions.

Fr. Javier with his compatriot Fr. Emilio Allue', ca. 1984,
when both were engaged in ministry to Hispanics in the Northeast.
Fr. Allue' later became an auxiliary bishop in Boston.

Bro. Javier made his first religious profession at Arbos on Aug. 16, 1952, and almost immediately departed as a “missionary” for the U.S. He enrolled at Don Bosco College in Newton, N.J., on Sept. 16 and graduated on June 12, 1955, with a B.A. in philosophy.

Bro. Javier did 3 years of practical training at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J. (1955-1958), teaching Latin, Spanish, and French. Since the school still had boarding students, he would also have assisted with study hall, dormitory, dining room, and recreation activities.

In 1958 Bro. Javier sailed to Rome for higher studies. He earned an additional bachelor’s degree in philosophy, cum laude, from the Salesian Pontifical Athenaeum (PAS) in 1959, then undertook theology studies at the PAS in Turin. Among its distinguished professors were a future cardinal, Fr. Antonio Javierre, and a future candidate for canonization, Fr. Giuseppe Quadrio (now “venerable”). At one point, Bro. Javier consulted Fr. Quadrio for vocational advice, and respected what the “very saintly man” told him.

Fr. Javier was ordained in the basilica of Mary Help of Christians on Feb. 11, 1963, and was awarded an STL in 1963, cum laude.

Entertaining at the end of a retreat (2007)

Fr. Javier began his priestly ministry at Salesian High School in New Rochelle, N.Y., teaching Spanish and religion (1963-1964). The next year he became catechist[1] at Salesian Junior Seminary in Goshen, N.Y., and taught U.S. history and health. Incoming freshman Jim Howe was impressed: “On our first evening in Goshen, the new catechist played guitar and sang ‘500 Miles’—in retrospect, maybe a sad choice for homesick youngsters. But we were thrilled, and felt a new era was beginning for both us and the seminary. And we all soon became folksingers. Fr. Javier became a kind friend and mentor to me then, and later at Newton,[2] where he taught education courses. He took my freshman college class on visits to Columbia and Princeton universities. The latter trip included a BBQ at my parents’ home in Edison, N.J. They clearly saw what made him special to us.”

Another freshman that year, Ed Lord, found several things special about Fr. Javier: “Fr. Javier was our freshman Latin teacher. I served at his morning Mass several times, and I remember his great sense of the presence of our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. I also remember his care of those of us who came down with the flu that winter. I especially remember his treating us when we picked up poison ivy in Fr. Don’s rose garden! He had a wonderful sense of humor and a kind word when we struggled with declensions.”

A fundraiser for the Salesians in East Boston in 1970
brought Massport's Edward King and other benefactors
together with Fr. Javier and SDBs Fr. Al Sofia,
Fr. John Malloy (provincial), Bro. Jerry Pellegrino, and Fr. Joe Muzas.

Despite being special in Goshen, Fr. Javier was transferred in 1965 Don Bosco Technical Institute in Haverstraw, N.Y., where aspirants to become coadjutor brothers and young professed brothers received formation. He served as catechist, Spanish and health teacher, and guidance counselor (1965-1968). In this period, he also completed an M.S. in education at Fordham University (1967). Later, he earned a professional diploma in counselor education from Fordham (1974).

Fr. Javier moved to East Boston in 1968 for 2 years at St. Dominic Savio High School as catechist, guidance counselor, and Latin and religion teacher. He gradually attained teaching certification in New York and Massachusetts in several subjects and guidance certification in both states.

With former aspirant Deacon Keith Harris and his wife
at a Salesian Cooperators meeting in 2017
(photo supplied by Bill Moriarty)

He moved up to Don Bosco College in Newton in 1970 as academic dean, also teaching education, till 1973. Former Salesian Bob Ferrara remembers Fr. Javier “as a quiet man who observed more than he opined on—another lesson for us all. He served diligently [and] in his way, he enhanced the education received by many.” 

Another former Salesian, Bill Moriarty, appreciated him a bit differently: “Fr. Javier was good to me at DBC. He tolerated my insolence over classes I couldn’t stand and allowed me to take virtually every course in which I had an interest. Virtually. Without taking Fr. Villar’s 1st year Spanish course, I challenged the final exam. With a ‘B’ firmly in hand, I asked Fr. Javier if I could enter the 2nd-year Spanish course. He looked at me with what I think was a slight smile and just said, ‘No. You have to take Spanish I to take Spanish II.’”

In 1973 his ministry shifted primarily to parish work, first at Mary Help of Christians in Manhattan; his apostolate was mainly among the many Hispanics of the East Village. His introduction to New York City included being robbed in Tompkins Square Park, along with Fr. DeBlase, one evening in the summer of 1973.

Talking about ministry in Boston, 1977

After 5 years at Mary Help, Fr. Javier took a sabbatical year in Madrid. Returning to the province in 1979, he undertook the Spanish apostolate in Boston, also teaching religion and offering guidance at Don Bosco Tech. Ministry to Hispanics included not only sacramental life and counseling, but also assistance with immigration matters and youth rallies like one at Don Bosco on June 4, 1983 (covered in The Pilot, June 10). That service lasted 5 years.

A January 1988 portrait

A much longer period of service followed, 1984-1996, when the Salesians accepted St. Kieran Parish and Immaculata-LaSalle High School in Miami. He continued offering Spanish ministry and school guidance; he was director for 9 years (1987-1996) and pastor for 4 (1992-1996). When your humble blogger was serving as a pastor on Grand Bahama Island in 1994, he appreciated Fr. Javier’s warm hospitality for monthly days of recollection at St. Kieran.

Fr. Javier continued Hispanic ministry when he moved back north to St. Anthony’s Parish in Elizabeth, N.J., as an assistant pastor. But after only 1 year (1996-1997), he was called to New Rochelle as province secretary and a member of the provincial council (1997-2003). In that time he assisted with Spanish ministry at St. Gabriel’s Church in New Rochelle.

In the mid-2000s, Fr. Javier took part in the multi-tiered Salesianity program offered at the Salesian Regional Formation Center in Quito with dozens of Salesians and laity from the Americas. He found it very enriching personally, vocationally, and ecclesially. He fostered the translation and printing of Getting to Know Don Bosco: An Introductory Study of the Life of Saint John Bosco by a couple of the Center’s professors.

Fr. Steve Ryan enjoys a joke from Fr. Javier (2020)

Following 2 terms on the provincial council, Fr. Javier returned in 2003 to Mary Help of Christians in Manhattan for 4 years of Hispanic ministry. When the archdiocese closed the parish in 2007, he moved back across the Hudson to Elizabeth as assistant pastor for another 4 years. The next 2 years (2011-2013) found him in Port Chester, N.Y., as an assistant pastor, 1 year at Corpus Christi Church, then 1 at Holy Rosary Church. He was posted back to Elizabeth in 2013, just in time for the Salesians’ withdrawal from the parish the following year.

By now a senior priest, 80 years old, Fr. Javier was assigned in 2014 to the Don Bosco Residence in Orange, N.J., to help at Our Lady of the Valley Parish and help form young Salesians and candidates. After suffering a stroke, he moved to the senior residence at the Marian Shrine in Haverstraw. He continued to offer his services as a confessor as much as possible at both the shrine chapel and the retreat house, and he took part in province celebrations as often as he could.

At Fr. John Langan's ordination in 2020

Fr. Javier’s last director, Fr. Manny Gallo, had known him as a boy in Miami. He writes: “Fr. Francis Xavier Aracil was an amazing Salesian priest! He spent hours in the confessional here at the Shrine, and we thank God for his vocation. Fr. Francis and I were very close, and I am heartbroken to have lost a man that I looked up to since I was a kid. He was the one that gave me my first Communion, and I was always proud to say that every time we were together with other people.”

Greeting Fr. Chavez in 2007 at Orange

Former rector major Fr. Pascual Chavez knew Fr. Javier for a quarter century. He writes of his “great appreciation” of Fr. Javier’s “goodness, generosity, Salesian identity, and missionary soul.”

Fr. Javier is survived by his brother Jorge Aracil Gosalbez of Madrid, and a niece, Maria Emilia Ferrandiz of Alcoy, Spain.

Funeral Arrangements

Wake: Marian Shrine, Saturday, December 21   1:00 to 3:45 p.m.

Mass: Marian Shrine, December 21                                              4:00 p.m.

Burial: Salesian Cemetery, Goshen, Monday, December 23    9:30 a.m.

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[1] In Salesian practice at the time, the catechist coordinated religious services and looked after basic medical needs of confreres and boarding students.

[2] Jim became a Salesian briefly.