My friend Father Sal Polizzi is amazing by any standard. Well into his 80’s (in fact closer to 90), he is still an active, full-time pastor,  a highly respected civic and church leader and a devoted brother, uncle and great-uncle. 

Monsignor Sal Polizzi (aka Father Turiddu)

Father Polizzi is the inspiration for my four Father Turiddu novels (available on Amazon). These may not be great works of literature, but I hope they are loving tributes to a man who has inspired me since the first time I met him more than 30 years ago. Using thin plot lines and, some would say, contrived situations such as the kidnapping of a controversial Cardinal from the Vatican, I have tried to illustrate Father Turiddu’s exceptional gifts as a pastor who cares deeply for his family, his friends and all God’s children. 

As a young priest, Father Sal was an activist who earned a Master’s degree in urban planning and used it to fight for the Italian American community in his beloved St. Louis. In the 1950s and 60s, when “white flight” was frightening people in other neighborhoods into abandoning their homes and moving away, Father Sal urged his parishioners to stay and fight. As a result, the Italian neighborhood known as “The Hill” remains a vibrant community—an excellent place to live and raise a family—to this day.

Similarly, when a new superhighway threatened to cut off residents of The Hill from ready access to essential services such as firefighters, police and emergency medical personnel, Father Sal organized the community and persuaded the “powers that be” by nonviolent resistance to build an overpass that guaranteed access to the neighborhood at all times.

Father Polizzi is still active, but he’s slowing down some. Holy Week and Easter Services wore him out this year. And he can’t wait until the parish fundraising dinner scheduled for April 15 is successfully concluded. This is as it should be—the natural rhythm of life.

After all these years, there’s only one thing Father Sal asks for in return for all that he’s given me as a friend and mentor. “Pray for me, Dan,” he asks every time we talk. “I do, Father. Every day,” is my response.

I pray for his peace, for his health and for God’s continued blessing on a man who has served the Church and the city he loves with such distinction for so many years.

Happy Easter, Father Turiddu! Ad multos annos!