In Memoriam: Father Casimir Peterson (1921 - 2016)

From the Catholic Review: "Father Casimir Peterson, known for detective work and ministry to mentally ill, dies" (George P. Matysek Jr.)

"Born in Baltimore to Joseph and Bernice Pruchniewski, who later Anglicized their name, Father Peterson was baptized at St. Casimir in Canton. He was inspired to become a priest after serving as an altar boy and through the encouragement of the religious sisters who taught him at Our Lady of Pompei School in Highlandtown.

Father Peterson prepared for the priesthood at St. Charles College and St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore.

Ordained for the Sulpicians in 1947 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Father Peterson spent the initial years of his priesthood educating seminarians at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, St. Joseph’s College in Mountain View, Calif., St. Charles College in Baltimore and St. Edward’s Seminary in Seattle.

He left the Sulpicians in 1956 to help care for his father, and began ministering for the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Father Peterson served as associate pastor of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland for three months in 1956 before serving four years as associate pastor of St. Clement Mary Hofbauer in Rosedale, four years at St. Ann in Baltimore and a year at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Baltimore.

From 1965 to 1968, Father Peterson worked as vice-officialis in the Metropolitan Tribunal. He was pastor of St. Lawrence in Jessup from 1968 to 1971, then served as pastor of Holy Family in Randallstown for four years. With the permission of Archbishop William D. Borders, he was chaplain to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., from 1975 to 1988, when he retired.

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Monsignor Arthur Bastress, pastor of the National Shrine of St. Alphonsus Liguori in Baltimore, said Father Peterson was a great friend of the shrine and celebrated Tridentine Masses there.

“He was very committed to the Tridentine Mass,” Monsignor Bastress said. “He was a very prayerful man.”

A Tridentine Latin Requiem Mass will be offered for Father Peterson Dec. 9 at 11 a.m. at St. Alphonsus. "

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