Catholic Chaplain Patrick Fiorillo To Step Down After Nearly 6 Years in Role

Patrick J. Fiorillo, the Undergraduate Catholic Chaplain, will step down from his role on May 31, he announced in a statement released on the Harvard Catholic Center website on Jan. 22.

In the statement, Fiorillo said that he was stepping down from his post with “mixed emotions” to “take a new assignment within the Archdiocese of Boston.”

“I have immense gratitude for the honor of having been called to serve here for this extended period of time,” Fiorillo wrote. “These years have been filled with countless unexpected graces and happy memories”.

Harvard Chaplains includes over 40 chaplains to represent various religious and spiritual groups and provide support to students and faculty at the University.

Ordained as a priest in 2016, Fiorillo was named a Harvard chaplain in 2018 and leads mass every Sunday at 5 p.m. at St. Paul’s Parish. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Hartford and served as a priest at St. Ann’s and St. Brendan’s Parishes in Dorchester before joining Harvard’s chaplaincy.

At the Harvard Catholic Center, Fiorillo has worked with undergraduates and student leaders to organize center programming, and during the Covid-19 pandemic, he started a podcast interviewing Catholics at Harvard.

In the statement, Fiorillo said his time at Harvard has left him with “a sense of readiness and anticipation for my next mission.”

“I look forward to continuing advancing our mission at St. Paul's and the Harvard Catholic Center these next four months,” he added.

—Staff writer Hana Rostami can be reached at hana.rostami@thecrimson.com.