Conventual Franciscan Francis Lombardo, former teacher at Curley, dies at 90

A funeral Mass will be offered April 24 in Hamburg, N.Y., for Conventual Franciscan Father Francis (Frank) J. Lombardo, who taught English for five years at Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore. Father Lombardo, a priest  of the Our Lady of the Angels Province, died April 8. He was 90.

Born in Buffalo on Dec. 24, 1934, he was one of the five children of the late Joseph and Mary (Carriero) Lombardo. 

After graduating Grover Cleveland High School and earning a degree in speech and hearing correction from the New York State College of Education at Buffalo, he began teaching at St. Francis High School in Buffalo in 1964, where he met the Franciscans.

Inspired by their common life, he entered the Novitiate of the Conventual Franciscans in Ellicott City , making his simple profession of vows  Aug. 15, 1966. He then finished a master’s degree in speech pathology from Penn State University, before professing solemn vows Aug. 15, 1969. After completing his master’s degree in theology at St. Anthony-on-Hudson Seminary in Rensselaer, N.Y., he was ordained to the priesthood  May 22, 1971, in Albany.

Father Lombardo’s first assignment was to the teaching apostolate at Archbishop Curley, where he taught English 1971-76.

From 1976 to 1979, he was spiritual director and director of brothers’ formation at St. Hyacinth College and Seminary in Granby, Mass. From 1979-82, he returned to St. Anthony-on-Hudson, serving as director of brothers’ formation, director of the deacon internship program, and associate director of clerics. He then spent 15 years as a pastor, ministering at St. Anne and Holy Cross Parishes in Hooversville, Pa., (1982-84); Most Holy Trinity Parish in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he was the first Franciscan pastor (1984-88); and St. Edward the Confessor Parish in Stafford Springs, Conn., where he was again the first Franciscan pastor (1988-97). 

From 1997 to 2001, he worked with the Companions of St. Anthony in Ellicott City, before moving back to his native Western New York.

Visitation hours will be held April 23 4-7 p.m. at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church (4263 St. Francis Drive, Hamburg N.Y. 14075), with a Franciscan Wake Service at 7 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at St. Francis April 24 at 11 a.m.

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