1880 – 1952 (September 26)
Mariano G. Milanese was baron in Cervinara, Benevento, Italy, on January 1, 1880, to Giuseppe Milanese and Maria Marro. He entered the Order on March 15, 1896, and made his profession of vows as a member of the Congregation of San Giovanni a Carbonara on March 19, 1897. He was solemnly professed in 1902, and was ordained to the priesthood in Naples at Villa Driscoll on August 15, 1902, by Bishop Ernesto Angiulli.
That same December, Father Milanese emigrated to the United States and served the Italian members of Saint Laurence’s Parish in Lawrence, Massachusetts. When Holy Rosary parish was founded, he became its first pastor, and he remained there after it was transferred to the care of the American Province. From 1922 until 1926 he was also prior of the community. He was affiliated to the Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova and served as Pastor at Holy Rosary until 1937.
From 1937 until 1952, he lived in retirement at Villanova, Pennsylvania. He had been sick for many years when he died in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 26, 1952 at the age of 72. Office of the Dead was celebrated at Villanova on Wednesday, October 1, 1952, followed by a Requiem Mass offered by the Prior Provincial, Father Joseph Dougherty, O.S.A. Father Peter Paul, O.S.A. preached. The Prior General, Father Joseph Hickey, O.S.A. and the Prior Provincial of the Midwest Province, Father Clement McHale, O.S.A. were also in attendance.
Father Milanese is buried in the Community Cemetery at Villanova.
