1907 – 1987 (July 29)
Louis M. Diorio was born on April 6, 1907, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Louis Diorio and Philomena Ciancia. He was educated in St. Rita and St. Colman’s Catholic schools and graduated from Villanova College in 1933. He professed first vows on September 11, 1930, and, after theological studies in Tolentino, Italy, was ordained to the priesthood there on July 12, 1936. After ordination, he continued graduate studies at the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC.
Father Diorio was first assigned to Our Lady of Pompeii Parish, Dobbs Ferry, New York. From 1938 to 1943 he served as assistant pastor at Saint Nicholas of Tolentine Parish, Philadelphia, and from 1943 to 1949 was chaplain at Columbus Hospital in New York City. He then spent nine years teaching and ministering at Augustinian parishes in Cuba. In 1958, he returned to Philadelphia and was named pastor of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine Parish, where he remained until 1961, when he became pastor of Our Lady of Pompeii Parish in Vineland, New Jersey. In 1967, he again returned to Philadelphia where he served as associate pastor and prior of the local Augustinian community. From 1978 to 1982, he was also treasurer of the Philadelphia Vice Province. Although Father Diorio had suffered a series of heart attacks in the last years of his life, he remained active in the pastoral ministry until his death on July 29, 1987. He had the joy of celebrating his Golden Jubilee as a priest with the Philadelphia community he had served for over twenty years. His funeral liturgy was celebrated at Saint Nichols of Tolentine Parish, Philadelphia, and burial was in the Augustinian section of Saint Mary Cemetery in East Vineland, N.J.
