Fr. Peter A. Fiore OFM

Fr. Peter A. Fiore, OFM, 94, a Glens Falls native and a professed Franciscan friar with Holy Name Province for 71 years, 67 as an ordained priest, died peacefully on the morning of Easter Sunday, April 17, at St. Anthony Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. He had been living in St. Petersburg at St. Anthony Friary, a Province retirement house, since January 2020 after retiring at the age of 92 from his last ministry role as English professor emeritus and scholar-in-residence at Siena College in Loudonville, New York, where he spent over five decades as a beloved professor and administrator. His rich and full life in religious vocation and academia spanned seven decades, first and foremost as a professed Franciscan friar, and as a scholar, professor, administrator and author. A wake will be held for Fr. Fiore Sunday, April 24, from 2-4 p.m., at St. Mary of the Angels Chapel on the campus of Siena College. A Mass of Resurrection will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, April 25, at the campus chapel, immediately followed by military honors. Cremation will take place following the Mass, with interment at a later date in South Glens Falls, NY. As per Siena College guidelines, all attendees will be required to pre-register online at https://www.siena.edu/offices/chaplain-s-office/mass-registration-special/. If attending the wake and Mass, attendees will have to register separately for both. The youngest of three children of Italian immigrant parents Peter and Virginia (née Arienzo) Fiore, a retail businessman and a homemaker, respectively, Fr. Fiore was born on Sept. 8, 1927 in Glens Falls, where he attended St. Mary’s Academy grammar and high schools, and served as an altar boy at the family’s parish of St. Mary’s. He returned to the parish as a friar in 1988 for two years in pastoral ministry, joyfully reconnecting with old friends, parishioners who had attended his first Mass after ordination, and some of the sisters that taught him in grade school. He attended Siena College under the G.I. Bill after returning from World War II as a member of the United States Army. At Siena, he was introduced to the Franciscan friars who inspired his own religious vocation and areas of teaching expertise, which included 17th century English Literature and honors seminars on the Great Books, Dante, Shakespeare, and theological issues in Western literature. After graduating from Siena in 1949 with a bachelor’s degree in English, he spent a year working in his father’s retail businesses in Glens Falls before joining Holy Name Province, which received him into the Order at St. Bonaventure Church in Paterson, New Jersey, on Aug. 12, 1950. He professed his first vows at the novitiate in Paterson one year later and made his solemn profession as a member of the Order of Friars Minor in 1954 at St. Bonaventure Church in Allegany, NY. He was ordained on June 9, 1955 at the Franciscan Monastery Church in Washington, D.C. In 1955, Fr. Fiore earned a master’s degree in English at Catholic University of America – and, in 1961, he earned a Ph.D. from the University of London in England in English Renaissance Literature with a concentration on the theological aspects of redemption and salvation in Milton’s Paradise Lost, which was the focus of his thesis and the subject of one of six books written by this accomplished author. He also published dozens of articles in scholarly journals. He lectured at the University of London for 18 consecutive summers, while also conducting research for his published works. His more than 50 years of service at Siena College included professor of English, chair of the English Department, and dean of the School of Liberal Arts. During part of his tenure, he headed Siena’s distinguished Greyfriar Living Literature Series, bringing to campus the most celebrated writers of the time as guest lecturers. In 2013, Siena alumnus William McGoldrick and his wife established the Peter Fiore, OFM, Excellence in English Endowment to support faculty and student enrichment in literature and the arts. In addition to providing pastoral ministry at St. Mary’s Parish in Ballston Spa, NY, Fr. Fiore also served as Holy Name Province’s director of communications from 1990 to 1996 at the provincial headquarters on West 31st Street in Manhattan, where he also enjoyed the culture and art opportunities – particularly the Opera and Broadway – that New York City offered. A fan of reading books – especially the lesser-known works of the great writers – good Italian cuisine (eating, and cooking for others), and the New York Yankees, Fr. Fiore was a member of several literary and professional organizations, among them the Modern Language Association, Metropolitan Opera Guild, Irish Repertory Theater of New York, and the Milton Seminar. But he always said that his most precious membership and fraternity was with his brother friars of Holy Name Province. In addition to his Franciscan confreres, Fr. Fiore is survived by nine nieces and nephews – who were like his children – including Virginia Kavanaugh, Susan Fiore, Peter Patrick Fiore (Patrice), Joan Flanagan (Robert), Ellen Fiore, Christine Shear (Fred), William Luciano (Joanne), Peter Luciano (Gail), and Mary Ann Roemer (Guy), as well as many great nieces and nephews, several great-great nieces and nephews, two great-great-great nieces, and many cousins. Memorial donations may be sent to Franciscan Friars – Holy Name Province, 144 West 32nd Street, New York, NY 10001-3202.

Fr. Peter A. Fiore OFM

September 8, 1927 - April 17, 2022