The Catholic Patriotic Minute #9: Father Vincent Capodanno
Catholics For Catholics Special Edition | September 1st, 2025
Servant of God Vincent Capodanno: A Life of Service, Self-Denial, and Sacrifice
Every year, around the date September 4th, the Archbishop for the Military Services, USA, celebrates Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., for the repose of the soul of Father Vincent Capodanno. September 4, 1967, marks the day of Capodanno’s heroic death. His last days spent physically and spiritually serving his soldiers and country during the Vietnam War fulfilled his desire to be a servant of God and His Kingdom.
In Staten Island, New York, Vincent was born on February 13, 1929, right at the beginning of the Great Depression, to a Catholic Italian family. Vincent’s love of country originated from seeing three of his brothers enter the military during World War II. In addition to these national crises, his father’s death on his tenth birthday shaped Vincent’s understanding of human life’s delicacy and the necessity of being in communion with God before meeting one’s last day. His love for God was cultivated through attending daily Mass before school.
When he attended Fordham University, Vincent discerned the vocation of the priesthood. From 1949 to 1958, Vincent attended the Maryknolls’ seminary because he felt called to serve the vulnerable and evangelize in other countries, which were essential parts of the Maryknolls’ mission. In 1958, Vincent was ordained a priest by the Archbishop of New York, Francis Cardinal Spellman, and was sent to his first assignment in Taiwan.
Faced with the language barrier between himself and his flock in Taiwan, the Hakka-Chinese, Father Capodanno sought to study their language in order to spread the Gospel and give them the sacraments. About six years later, after multiple short assignments to other countries following this one in Taiwan, his new assignment was about to send him to Hong Kong. However, the year was 1965, and United States combat troops set foot in Vietnam. The United States was aiding South Vietnam in its efforts to stop a communist takeover by North Vietnam.
Father Capodanno felt called to a life similar to those of his three brothers, a life of serving one’s homeland. His Maryknoll superiors allowed Father Capodanno to become a part of the Navy Chaplain Corps. In 1966 during Holy Week, Father joined the 7th Marines in Vietnam. Father Capodanno’s life as a chaplain certainly involved administering the sacraments to the troops and being their spiritual mentor, but it also included living alongside these Marines as a fellow soldier. He reasoned, “I understand their trials better if I accept the same burdens they do.” He shared the troops’ same routine, meals, and living areas.
And yet, the essential part of his role as chaplain was giving Last Rites to Catholics before or even during battle. When Father Capodanno was asked for the reason why he was a chaplain, he reportedly said, “I want to be available in the event anything serious occurs; to learn firsthand the problems of the men, and to give them moral support, to comfort them with my presence.” Father Capodanno also tended to the Vietnamese locals by providing them with libraries and gifts, such as Saint Christopher medals.
Once Father Capodanno completed his first tour, he asked to stay with the Marines for another tour, and so he was assigned to the 5th Marines. On September 4, 1967, the North Vietnamese attacked his battalion. During the battle, Father Capodanno attended to the injured soldiers. The most important concerns on Father Capodanno’s mind were serving his men spiritually by giving them Last Rites and helping them with their injuries, not the safety of his own life. An exploding mortar shell inflicted wounds on his limbs and even almost severed his hand off of his arm. But, Father Capodanno kept on caring for his men until machine-gun fire from enemy lines killed him. Two years later, the citation for Father’s posthumously-awarded Congressional Medal of Honor would read, that on this particular day,
Lt. Capodanno left the relative safety of the company command post and ran through an open area raked with fire, directly to the beleaguered platoon. Disregarding the intense enemy small-arms, automatic-weapons, and mortar fire, he moved about the battlefield administering last rites to the dying and giving medical aid to the wounded. When an exploding mortar round inflicted painful multiple wounds to his arms and legs, and severed a portion of his right hand, he steadfastly refused all medical aid. Instead, he directed the corpsmen to help their wounded comrades and, with calm vigor, continued to move about the battlefield as he provided encouragement by voice and example to the valiant marines. Upon encountering a wounded corpsman in the direct line of fire of an enemy machine gunner positioned approximately 15 yards away, Lt. Capodanno rushed in a daring attempt to aid and assist the mortally wounded corpsman. At that instant, only inches from his goal, he was struck down by a burst of machine-gun fire.
Father Capodanno sacrificed his own life, in order to be with his soldiers during their painful last moments and to make sure that Catholic soldiers were in full communion with Our Lord.
After Father Capodanno’s death on September 4th, 1967, he received the Purple Heart Medal, the Navy Bronze Star medal, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star, as well as the Congressional Medal of Honor, for his last act of self-sacrifice. With the Holy See’s permission, Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien opened the Cause for Canonization for Father Capodanno on May 19, 2006, and named Capodanno a Servant of God, the first stage of the process for canonization.
To revive the Cause, Archbishop Broglio met with the prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in December of 2022 and subsequently formed a commission of individuals, who compiled research to continue the case for Capodanno. Dr. Gori, the postulator for the Cause of Capodanno, is the one in communication with the Dicastery about the commission’s 2024 submission. As Dr. Gori is also the postulator for the Cause of Blessed Carlo Acutis, whose canonization is on September 7, 2025, there is great hope amongst those praying for Father Capodanno’s canonization.
In one of his homilies during his annual Masses dedicated to Father Capodanno, Archbishop Broglio spoke of Capodanno’s embodiment of charity, “[Father Capodanno] ignored self in order to serve others. If each one of us took that lesson home this evening and put it into practice, we could renew our families and communities. Spreading the message of Father Capodanno begins with dethroning [oneself as king] and seeing Christ in my neighbor.” Practicing charity and self-denial, whether on a battlefield, in the home, or workplace, is a way to fulfill our vocation of holiness, a step towards heaven, and can be an intentional exercise to honor the life of the Servant of God Vincent Capodanno.
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