1947 – 2012 (September 20)
John Joseph Del Casale was born on August 25, 1947, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Joseph Del Casale and Grazie Buontempo, and one of a family of six sons and four daughters. He was baptized on October 5, 1947, at Saint Monica Church, Philadelphia, and attended Saint Monica Parish School, and Bishop Neumann High School. Beginning in 1965, he worked at Boeing-Vertol, but in 1967, he entered the Province's Brothers Formation Program, at Good Counsel Novitiate, New Hamburg, New York, and then at Augustinian Academy, Staten Island, New York. On August 27, 1969, he was received as a novice at Good Counsel Novitiate, and professed first vows on August 28, 1970. From 1970 to 1974, he was a member of the Augustinian Collegiate Seminary community at Villanova University. He professed solemn vows on October 13, 1974, at his home parish of Saint Monica, Philadelphia.
Brother John was assigned to Saint John of Sahagun Friary and Archbishop Carroll High School, Washington, DC, where he worked in the school's business office from 1974 to 1977. From 1977 to 1982, he served at Saint Nicholas of Tolentine Parish, Bronx, New York, in the parish business office and assisted with liturgical celebrations in the church. From 1982 to 1998, he served at Saint Augustine Friary, Villanova, Pennsylvania, as community treasurer, guest master and, from 1994 to 1998, prior. He was the first brother of the Province to receive approval from the Vatican's Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life to be prior of a community in which there were clerics. After a two-year sabbatical, he was assigned in 2000 to Saint Augustine Parish, Andover, Massachusetts, where he served in the parish business office, and from 2002 to 2012, the community's treasurer and prior. Brother John used his talents to enhance the liturgical and community environments where he served. He also ministered to the elderly members of Saint Augustine Parish, Andover, Massachusetts.
On November 20, 2011, in Holy Cross Cathedral in Boston, Massachusetts, Brother John received the Cheverus Medal in recognition of his dedicated service to the People of God in the Archdiocese of Boston.
Brother John died on September 20, 2012, in Bryn Mawr Hospital after a battle with brain cancer. His funeral Mass was held at St. Thomas of Villanova Parish on the campus of Villanova University, on October 1, 2012. The celebrant was a fellow graduate of Bishop Neumann High School, Fr. Richard G. Cannuli, O.S.A. The homilist was Fr. Augustine M. Esposito, O.S.A. Brother John is buried in the Augustinian Plot at Calvary Cemetery in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.
