{"id":362136,"date":"2026-10-01T20:10:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T20:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/362136\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T20:10:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T20:10:50","slug":"queens-pastor-parishioner-celebrate-little-flower-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/362136\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens Pastor, Parishioner Celebrate Little Flower Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"\"\"The portrait that Yvonne Sfogliano gave to her pastor, Father Vincent Chirichella, isn\u2019t the only reminder of St. Th\u00e9r\u00e8se of Lisieux in his office. A portrait of the saint\u2019s family hangs on the wall. (Photo: Paula Katinas)<\/p>\n

ASTORIA \u2014 One of the Catholic Church\u2019s most beloved saints is fostering a special spiritual connection between a Queens pastor and one of his parishioners.\u00a0
<\/p>\n

Father Vincent Chirichella, pastor of St. Joseph Church in Astoria, has been devoted to St. Th\u00e9r\u00e8se of Lisieux for many years, dating back to when he was discerning for the priesthood. Yvonne Sfogliano, a Eucharistic minister at the church, is also devoted to the saint, and her attachment to the \u201cLittle Flower\u201d dates back to her childhood.\u00a0
<\/p>\n

Each prays for St. Th\u00e9r\u00e8se of Lisieux\u2019s intercession for different reasons, but their loyalty to her binds them in friendship.\u00a0
<\/p>\n

Sfogliano, 79, recently cemented their bond by bestowing on Father Chirichella one of her most prized possessions \u2014 a tiny portrait of St. Th\u00e9r\u00e8se of Lisieux surrounded by a crocheted border \u2014 that one of the Sisters of St. Joseph gave her when she was 6.\u00a0
<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted Father Vincent to have it because I knew he would cherish it and take good care of it,\u201d she said.\u00a0
<\/p>\n

Touched by the gesture, Father Chirichella keeps the portrait, which is encased in a metal frame, on his desk.\u00a0
<\/p>\n

St. Joseph Church marked the feast day of St. <\/a>Th\u00e9r\u00e8se of Lisieux (Oct. 1) with a triduum on Sept. 29, 30, and Oct.1, during which parishioners gathered to pray and reflect on the life of the French Carmelite nun who died in 1897 at the tender age of 24, yet has had an impact on Catholics all over the world because of her \u201cLittle Way\u201d philosophy, which teaches that performing small acts of kindness and doing ordinary tasks with love can make holiness possible for everyday people.\u00a0
<\/p>\n

RELATED: Century of Faith, Lifetime of Devotion \u2014 Brooklyn Church Honors\u00a0 \u2018Mr. Mac\u2019 and His Devotion to St. Th\u00e9r\u00e8se of Lisieux<\/a><\/p>\n

Sfogliano was a first grader at St. Patrick School in Astoria in 1952 when one of the sisters who taught there gave the portrait to her mother, Lillian Fumai.\u00a0
<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sister liked my mother and wanted to give her a gift. My mother was one of the few people who had a car back then, and she used to drive the sisters around. We always had nuns in the car,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI really liked them. How sweet they were. They were gentle women. They were women of peace and calm.\u201d\u00a0
<\/p>\n

However, Fumai wanted her little daughter Yvonne to have the gift, so she suggested that the nun give it to her instead.\u00a0
<\/p>\n

Young Yvonne put the portrait in her room and kept it for the rest of her life. \u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve always had it,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I moved, it moved with me.\u201d\u00a0
<\/p>\n

Over the years, she found that praying for St. Th\u00e9r\u00e8se of Lisieux<\/a>\u2019s intercession helped her remain calm during hectic times.\u00a0
<\/p>\n

About 20 years ago, Sfogliano started going to Mass at St. Joseph Church, and when Father Chirichella was assigned pastor in 2021, she got to know him and found that, like her, he had a devotion to her favorite saint.\u00a0
<\/p>\n

\u201cSt. Th\u00e9r\u00e8se came into my life when I was discerning the priesthood,\u201d said Father Chirichella, who was ordained in 2007. \u201cI got an envelope in the mail from the Alaskan Missions, and there was her picture. She\u2019s the patron saint of missions. \u00a0
<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, from then on, I started praying for her help, and she started sending roses here and there throughout my life.\u201d\u00a0
<\/p>\n

Father Chirichella said he understands why she is such a beloved saint. \u201cWhat I\u2019m most attracted to is the practicality of her spirituality. \u2018The Little Way,\u2019 that we can all do small things with love,\u201d he explained.\u00a0
<\/p>\n

Sfogliano said she decided to part with the portrait because of her age. \u00a0
<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018I\u2019m going to be 80 soon, and if anything happened to me, I would want St. Th\u00e9r\u00e8se to have a good home,\u2019 \u201d she said. \u201cAnd because of Father Vincent, I know it does.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The portrait that Yvonne Sfogliano gave to her pastor, Father Vincent Chirichella, isn\u2019t the only reminder of St.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[23130,134513,9,24,63,122,124,123,134514,134515,134516,134517],"class_list":["post-362136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-diocese-of-brooklyn","tag-father-vincent-chirichella","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-sisters-of-st-joseph","tag-st-joseph-church-astoria","tag-st-therese-of-lisieux","tag-yvonne-sfogliano"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}