Profiles: Father Salvatore Cuccia

Divergent Paths Always Come Together

His family played a crucial role in Father Salvatore Cuccia’s vocation. As the only son of a Sicilian family, it fell to Father Sal to carry on the family name. This could have been an obstacle to religious vocation, but Father Sal’s family wholeheartedly supported the boy’s vocational choice.

Norbertine priests serving in his home parish in Madison, Wisconsin, were Father Sal’s introduction to the Order. Italian-speaking Father Martin Frigo, a Norbertine, came to the parish in 1956 while Father Sal was in high school. The two became acquainted through Father Frigo’s outreach to high school kids. Father Sal eventually came to know the Norbertine novices spending their first year at the novitiate on Lake Monona. Summertime brought more Norbertines who, while attending summer sessions at the University of Wisconsin, stayed at the parish. “What most impressed me was how they related to each other. I was struck by the real sense of community.”

At the same time, he met the vocations director for the diocese through the priest’s teen retreats. As they got to know each other, the priest encouraged Father Sal toward diocesan priesthood. But it was the Norbertines who won the day; it was that feeling of community that brought the young man to the Order.

Father Sal signed on after graduating from high school in 1958. As the youngest in his class, he was the last member of St. Norbert Abbey to be vested in the National Shrine of St. Joseph (at Old St. Joseph Church, De Pere). The Order moved to the new Abbey the following February (1959). Father Sal graduated from St. Norbert College in 1963, professed solemn vows that summer, and was ordained in 1966.

In the years since, Father Sal’s life has taken unexpected turns; his path was not necessarily God’s path; the two often diverged. “I had my plan; God had His plan. In the beginning, I was going one way; He was going another, but they always came together.” Other people sometimes served unknowingly as the instrument of discernment. There was, for example, the encounter with a woman outside the Abbey church when Father Sal, not yet ordained, pondered whether or not to volunteer for assignment to the new priory at Daylesford. He had just graduated from college and was studying theology at the Abbey and at Marquette University. Should he join the new foundation in Philadelphia? It was then the woman approached Father Sal, observed he was Italian and said, “You must be from Philadelphia.” “No,” Father Sal replied, “I’m from Madison.” “Well, that’s strange,” the woman said, “because you’re kind usually are (from Philadelphia).”

“Is this the voice of God calling me to Daylesford? Was this the instrument of God helping me make my decision? Like Abraham, I was called to a land I had never seen.” On November 13, 1963, Father Sal became the youngest solemnly professed member of the new Daylesford Priory.

He visited “the land I had never seen” the following summer (1964). After finishing his theology studies, he suggested the program needed a course in teaching methodology. Perhaps he could get permission to attend the London School of Catechetics? “This was my plan. However, the Lord’s plan was different.” After three years of theology, Father Sal was ordained and sent back to Marquette for his master’s in theology.

There he formed a new plan. He would finish his degree, teach among “my kind” at Bishop Neumann High School for five years, then go to London. “The Lord had other plans.” Instead, he was assigned to Archmere Academy in Claymont, Delaware, where he settled in and, as time passed, assumed he would be there until he reached retirement age. “Again, my plan, not the Lord’s.” Twenty years later, he accepted an invitation from Father Xavier Colavechio to join him in Rome where Father Xave was assigned rector of the Order’s generalate. Unexpectedly, the arrangement lasted only a few months and Father Sal embarked on a three-month sabbatical in Leuven, Belgium. Another change of plans.

He returned to the U.S. in June 1987 and was assigned director of liturgy at Daylesford Abbey. Two years later, he moved to Washington, D.C., to become master of professed. Two years into that assignment, it was decided to send the juniors to Philadelphia for study. What next? Father Sal had no plan. “The Lord did.”

He was assigned associate pastor to Our Lady Queen of Peace parish in Baltimore (1996), newly staffed by Norbertines. His first experience in parish ministry, other than weekend assignments, was enjoyable and rewarding. Assuming again he was there for the duration, ie., until retirement, he discovered once more that it was not to be. “This time it was the call to return to St. Norbert Abbey where it all began. As there was the voice of the woman in 1963 which got me to consider a move to the East, there was another voice that would ask, when I visited St. Norbert Abbey, if I was there to make a transfer. Even before he became a vocations director, Father Jim Baraniak was recruiting for De Pere!”

The timing was right. Despite its satisfactions, parish ministry left Father Sal without community, an absence he felt keenly. If his Sicilian family ties were tight, community bonds were as strong.“Family closeness carries over into community.”

Returning to St. Norbert Abbey in May 2000, Father Sal accepted a temporary, one-year assignment as associate pastor of the St. Norbert College parish and member of the Campus Ministry team. That was three years ago. Besides liturgical responsibilities, he helps in the student retreat program, directs adult confirmation preparation, and coordinates the campus’s weekly Common Prayer service. He finds the longer he is there, the more involved he gets; each year finds him taking on more activities. He also chairs St. Norbert Abbey’s liturgy committee.

In the years since he joined the Norbertines, Father Sal has witnessed many changes. “Many of the rules governing our way of life have changed. Many of the juniors and priests whom I have known over the years have left or have entered eternal life. As a junior and young priest, I joined the ‘older’ priests in celebrating their 25th anniversaries (of ordination). I have had mine and now join the ‘younger’ priests in celebrating theirs....

“In each of these changes which have taken place in my life and that of the Order, there have been three things which have been present: the hand/plan of God; the presence and support of the community; the love and support of my family.”

“If I had to pick a passage from Scripture or words of Christ that represents my life it is the call of the disciples, ‘Come, follow me.’ It has been the call to service. Service to my Norbertine brothers, service to the school community of Archmere, service to the parish communities of Our Lady of Peace and St. Norbert College.”

Although his life and priesthood took many turns and his ministerial experiences were often unchosen, all were satisfying. “Each one was different; each called for a change, called for a conversion. Iíve enjoyed them all.” With each turn in the road, he accepted and adapted, though not always without apprehension. When he came to St. Norbert, he wondered, “How does somebody my age relate to college students.” A young friend reassured him, “Oh, just be yourself.” “You know what? It’s worked.”

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