IN MEMORIAM: Richard Vaggione ‘70

The Rev. Richard Paul Vaggione, OHC, Class of 1970, died Saturday, October 23rd, 2021 in Kingston, New York. Monk, priest, scholar, and teacher, Vaggione was born in 1945 in San Jose, California. He studied at Santa Clara University and the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, before General. He received his D. Phil. from Oxford University where he developed his expertise in early Christianity. He was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in 1971 and entered the Order of the Holy Cross at Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, New York, in 1981. He professed life vows in 1986.

Vaggione was the author of numerous scholarly books and articles examining the history and theology of the diverse movements of the Christian patristic period. He taught at several educational institutions, including the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and Trinity College, Toronto, where he mentored doctoral students and others in their research and writing.

He served as parish priest at Episcopal churches throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and in Greater Toronto, most notably as Incumbent of St. Matthias Anglican Church. He was sought out as a confessor and spiritual guide. During his years in Toronto, he was resident at Holy Cross Priory, High Park, and served as Prior. He edited the definitive edition of the Order’s Rule.

Vaggione is survived by his brother Michael and by his monastic family.

Interment was at Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY.