The Early Years
On February 13, 1929, Vincent Robert Capodanno was born into a large Italian immigrant family on Staten Island, New York. The tenth child of Vincent Robert Capodanno, Sr. and Rachel Basile Capodanno, Vincent Jr. grew up learning the virtues of charity, perseverance, fortitude, obedience, and faithfulness. His Catholic faith was cultivated throughout childhood and eventually led him to a vocation to not only the priesthood but to the missionary life. It was in this that he fulfilled God’s call to all Christians: to love God above all things and to love your neighbor as you love yourself; in a word, to be holy.
But his growth in holiness was not meteoric nor sudden. Instead, it was fostered throughout his life by his upbringing, education, seminary, and priestly duties. Upon the untimely death of his father at age 10, Vincent experienced the reality that life ends and we will be held accountable to our Creator. Young Vincent was always deep in thought, and after the death of his father, his thoughts turned to the meaning and purpose of life. What life would bring glory? And is that glory for self or for God?
Staring at pictures of great heroes in his scrapbook, he contemplated the life God intended him to live. A doctor that always serves? A general that fights for his country and leads men to victorious battles? As he matured in his life, his desire for greatness was formed into Christian magnanimity for glorifying God. Vincent grew up during World War II, which not only strengthened in him a profound patriotism but it also imbued him with the reality of both spiritual and physical battles. Such popular Catholic leaders in the media as Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen explained war as a test of faith rather than survival. Through the influence of his father’s death, war, and Archbishop Sheen, Capodanno came to learn life was not about earthly glory nor survival. It was about living a faith-filled life, one in service to God and others. Further, life was about trusting in God, Who tells us constantly to not be afraid for He is with us.
To live a faith-filled life young Vincent attended daily Mass before high school classes. This continued into his undergraduate years at Fordham University. It culminated in his final call to the priesthood during a spiritual retreat in 1949. With the perseverance learned throughout his childhood, Vincent began discerning this vocational desire.
A Call to Missionary Life
Young Vincent had a spirit of adventure and service, which was fostered by a magazine on foreign missions, The Field Afar. The stories told in this magazine piqued and formed the imagination of the young man who already showed a pension for magnanimity and fortitude. Stories of evangelizing and serving the poor and downtrodden, even amidst the danger of martyrdom, led him to consider missionary work. In particular, he began considering the Maryknolls, the Catholic Foreign Mission Society that published the magazine. He applied to Maryknoll and was accepted in 1949.
The Maryknolls were a particularly fitting match for a man with the natural virtues of perseverance and fortitude; a man who truly believed in trusting in God and not being afraid, a maxim that young Vincent lived by and eventually would die by. All Maryknoll missionaries were required to learn survival tactics and do hard labor. They were expected to learn self-sufficiency as the countries they would be evangelizing would not have modern conveniences.
After nine years of seminary and intense preparation, Vincent was ordained in 1958 by Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York. Upon his ordination, Capodanno was given a book written by Raoul Plus, Radiating Christ, that would form him as a missionary priest and become his modus operandi. With this book, his years of seminary, and the graces bestowed upon him at ordination, he was ready to fulfill the order’s mission to “Go and Teach All Nations”.
His first mission was in Taiwan. Upon arriving in 1959, Fr. Capodanno immediately began learning the difficult language of his parishioners, the Hakka-Chinese. He spent countless hours adapting and acclimating to the culture, experience that would contribute to his future pastoral care. With any community Fr. Capodanno served over the years, he placed himself at their service, descending to the humble realities that were before him. He administered sacraments, taught native catechists, distributed food and medicine, and even purchased goods with his own money. He was always attentive to their needs, listening and responding in the same manner as Christ did during His life.
Fr. Capodanno had several short assignments over the years, always carrying the same virtues of perseverance, charity, and obedience with him. With each new assignment came a new community that had different spiritual and emotional needs. While the constant changes posed challenges for the Maryknoll priest, including spiritual and emotional challenges, he remained steadfast in his mission and faith. After six years of mission work and a six-month furlough to home, he returned to Taiwan.
Upon arrival, he was given another transfer, this time to Hong Kong. This decision was difficult for Fr. Capodanno, who saw his work unfinished on the island. However, he obeyed the directive and went to Hong Kong, where he would be providentially introduced to a new vocational ministry. This ministry was born out of a need he witnessed while in Hong Kong. As the Navy had a presence there, Fr. Capodanno often ministered to the sailors while continuing his other missionary responsibilities. During this time, he discerned if God was calling him to Navy chaplaincy. This would be a new calling from God, but it was a development of his vocation as a missionary priest.
Life as a Navy Chaplain
Recognizing a new call, he sought permission from Maryknoll to join the Navy Chaplain Corps. After much discernment, Maryknoll granted his request and he left his current assignment in Hong Kong for Officer Candidate School. During Holy Week of 1966, Fr. Capodanno reported to the 7th Marines in Vietnam as a lieutenant. Drawing on his experience from six years as a missionary and his responsibilities as a priest, he immediately focused his attention on those who needed him the most: the young enlisted Marines, or “Grunts”. Yet, he was more than a priest to them. He lived, ate, and slept as they did; he suffered with them. He once said, “I understand their trials better if I accept the same burdens they do…” (Armed with Faith, p113, Stephen M. DiGiovanni, 2018). He became an image of Christ to them, the living Gospel, ministering to them spiritually, emotionally and physically.
However, Fr. Capodanno’s ministry didn’t just stop with the Marines. He also organized outreach programs for the local villagers, established libraries, gathered and distributed gifts, and helped the Grunts acclimate to the culture. Culture shock was a problem for many Marines, and it interfered with the way they conducted themselves with the local villagers. This made it difficult for the Grunts to understand and cope with the horrors of war in a foreign land with a vastly different culture. Fr. Capodanno was able to help these men not only overcome culture shock and come to understand the people, but also cope with war. From shock to disillusionment, he reassured and consoled the Marines when necessary. He constantly reminded the Marines to not be afraid for God was with them, a maxim he himself exemplified. He never turned a Grunt away who needed to talk, even if he was not a practicing Catholic or of a different religion. He heard confessions, catechized, and helped many return to the Faith.
Fr. Vincent Capodanno was seeing so much fruit from his service to the Marines that when his first tour was ending, he requested an extension to remain. The reason he gave in his request was simply “I do not wish to leave.” He wasn’t motivated by a false sense of piety or pride, pretentiousness, nor by egoism or foolhardiness, according to the men he served. Rather, he was motivated by selflessness and devotion; devotion to God, to his vocation, and to the Grunts. He took leave in the spring of 1967, which would be the last time his family would see the 38-year old priest.
The Ultimate Sacrifice
While in Vietnam Fr. Capodanno saw many battles, being the first Navy chaplain to join Marines on patrols and on the battlefield. Even under heavy fire, he remained calm and unwavering, risking his life to attend to the wounded. Through his calm and steadfast demeanor and his willingness to suffer alongside them, he encouraged their faith. Most importantly, he prepared them for death by administering the Last Rites to Catholics, even when it posed great risk to his own life. When asked why he did this, in an interview with a reporter, Fr. Capodanno said, “I want to be available in the event anything serious occurs; to learn firsthand the problems of the men, and to give them moral support, to comfort them with my presence” (Armed with Faith, p114, Stephen M. DiGiovanni, 2018). To descend to the level of the very men he was serving, Fr. Capodanno embodied the teachings of Christ – His love, His mercy, His selflessness.
It was in one of the battles that Fr. Capodanno was present that he followed Christ and mounted the cross in complete self-denial. On September 4, 1967, the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines were under heavy fire from a North Vietnamese ambush. Despite risk, Fr. Capodanno continued to minister medically and spiritually to wounded and fallen Marines. During the course of this ambush, Fr. Capodanno ran into the open in order to assist a wounded corpsman. The enemy opened fire upon Fr. Capodanno and he died faithfully performing his final act as a good and faithful servant of God.
In 1969, Lieutenant Father Vincent Capodanno was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic act of selflessness on September 4. As a Navy chaplain, he was also the recipient of the Navy Bronze Star medal, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star, and the Purple Heart Medal. Fr. Capodanno has been honored and remembered for his service with many memorials: chapel dedications, the naming of the ship USS Capodanno, military buildings, streets and other military memorials throughout the United States. However, despite these achievements, Fr. Capodanno most likely would’ve graciously accepted yet humbly continued on with his service with no further mention of the honors. He never advertised nor talked about the military awards he received during his life, for he viewed his service as fulfilling his Christian duty: to love God above all things and to love his neighbor as himself. In this, Fr. Capodanno led an exemplary life in not only preaching the Gospel but living it in complete self-denial and heroic virtue.