Honouring our Alumni

St. Augustine’s Seminary paid tribute to some of its esteemed Jubilarians during a small ceremony on March 24, 2022. It was good to have some of our alumni back after having to cancel Alumni Day events last year due to the pandemic.

While this year’s event was still limited in numbers, we still paid tribute to all those celebrating special anniversaries, even if they couldn’t be there in person. We recognized 27 Jubilarians from 2021 who celebrated 25, 40, 50, 60, and 70-year anniversaries of priesthood.

One Jubilarian honoured was Fr. John-Mark Missio, celebrating his 25th year as a priest. Fr. Missio is a familiar face at St. Augustine’s. He recalls the first time he walked through its doors, he was just three and a half years old. He had come to visit the Seminary with his parents.

“My parents actually lost me and left me behind in the Chapel by mistake,” he recalls with a smile. “I was crawling around under the pews. So that was my first visit to the Seminary. I returned when I was about 30, this time to enter the formation program. Then after I was ordained, I figured I was done at the Seminary.”

But after spending some time in parish life, “I was assigned to teach at St. Augustine’s in 2012, so I was back again.”

Upon his return, Fr. Missio had a great impact on the lives of many seminarians, particularly as Director of Liturgy as well as Sacred Music.

“It was a great privilege to bring my experience at the Choir School and my studies in liturgy to the Seminary,” he says. “Liturgy at the Seminary is really wonderful because you can do things as ideally as possible, which lets the Rites speak for themselves. I think that's such an important experience for seminarians who really encounter the Roman Rite in its essence. And while you may adapt that wherever you go, at least you’ve got not just an intellectual knowledge but a knowledge and level of encounter with the liturgy that will be with you for the rest of your priesthood. That's a good thing that our seminarians bring to the parish.”

He also tried to instill a great passion within seminarians for the importance of sacred music.

“Communicating the importance of the liturgy as sacred song is important. Music isn't something we add to the liturgy. Our Rites, when sung, really embody the maximum solemnity that is there in the Rites of the Church.”

Fr. Missio was also Vice-Rector before being assigned back to a Parish in 2020.  He continues to teach a practicum and is an occasional lecturer at the Seminary.

Please save the date for our next Alumni Day event which is planned for September 28, 2022. We will recognize 25 Jubilarians.