Monsignor joins canons of St. Peter’s Basilica, a ministry of prayer

Msgr. Francis D. Kelly, a priest of the Diocese of Worcester, Mass. will be the first U.S.-born canon in almost 50 years. The canons devote their ministry to prayer in the basilica. Msgr. Kelly was serving at the Casa Santa Maria, the residence for U.S. priests studying at the pontifical universities in Rome. CNS photo/Paul Haring

Although his curriculum vitae includes parish assignments, seminary positions and years devoted to promoting religious education throughout the United States, Msgr. Francis D. Kelly said, “All my life I’ve been a closet monk.”

As he prepared to take his post as a canon of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, a position focused on the service of prayer, Msgr. Kelly said, “God knows what he’s doing.”
The chief task of the two dozen canons, he said, is prayer and worship.

For the past eight years, the 75-year-old monsignor from the Diocese of Worcester, Mass., has served as superior of the Casa Santa Maria, the residence for U.S. priests studying at the pontifical universities in Rome. He was named a canon of the basilica by Pope Benedict XVI and was to be formally installed Jan. 20.

In a Jan. 17 interview with Catholic News Service, Msgr. Kelly said he did not know how he came to be appointed the first U.S.-born canon in almost 50 years; “it’s not something I asked for or expected.”

Italian-born Archbishop Giuseppe De Andrea, 82, a retired Vatican diplomat and priest of the Diocese of Greensburg, Pa., currently is the senior canon; he and Msgr. Kelly both hold positions at the international offices of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. The last U.S.-born priest to serve as a canon was Archbishop Martin O’Connor, a native of Scranton, Pa., who had served as rector of the Pontifical North American College before being named a nuncio, and as president of the then-Pontifical Commission for Social Communications. He retired in 1971 and died in 1986.

In a 2007 meeting with the Chapter of St. Peter’s Basilica, which includes the canons, Pope Benedict XVI said that for more than 1,400 years, there has been an “uninterrupted presence of praying clergy” around the tomb of St. Peter. In the early centuries different orders of monks had the responsibility, but in 1053 St. Leo IX created the College of Canons and appointed a group of priests who were not members of monastic orders.

Pope Benedict told the canons their service is to offer “the ministry of prayer. While prayer is fundamental for all Christians, for you, dear brothers, it can be called a professional duty.”
The pope said that the best way to ensure that the millions of people who visit St. Peter’s every year know it is a church, and not a museum, is to find people praying inside.

Like Msgr. Kelly, who is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination this year, the canons all have a long history of ministry and service to the church; several of them, like Archbishop De Andrea, are retired Vatican ambassadors. On Sundays and major feast days, they concelebrate and take turns preaching at the 10:30 a.m. solemn Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and lead the recitation of evening prayer in the basilica.

Msgr. Kelly said, “For those who know me and my life story and my inclinations, this was a perfect fit. It’s not at all a radical change of style; it’s really doing something that I’ve always been attracted to and done in different ways.”