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The Most Reverend Salvatore R. Matano
Ninth Bishop of Rochester
BIOGRAPHY
The Most Reverend Salvatore R. Matano was born in Providence, Rhode Island on September 15, 1946, the son of Salvatore and Mary Santaniello Matano. He attended St. Ann Elementary School and LaSalle Academy in Providence before enrolling in Our Lady of Providence Seminary College in Warwick, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy.
He was ordained to the priesthood on December 17, 1971 by James Cardinal Hickey in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. He attended the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he was awarded a Licentiate Degree in Sacred Theology in 1972, and later received a Doctorate in Canon Law in 1983 from that same university.
Bishop Matano served as Assistant Pastor at Our Lady of Grace Parish in Johnston, Rhode Island from 1972-1973. He was also a faculty member of Our Lady of Providence Seminary High School in Providence from 1972-1977. In 1977 he was named Diocesan Director of Priests’ Personnel, while residing at Our Lady of Providence Seminary in Warwick.
In 1980, he also served as Assistant Chancellor for the Diocese of Providence.
Between 1980 and 1983, Bishop Matano pursued graduate studies in Rome, after which he returned to the Diocese of Providence, where he served as Vicar for Administration and Co-Chancellor until 1991. During this time, he resided at St. Augustine Parish in Providence.
Photo by Mike Crupi/Catholic Courier
After a year’s service at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C. where he served as Secretary to the Apostolic Nuncio (1991-1992), Bishop Matano returned to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence. He was named Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia and served at that post until 1997, when he was appointed pastor of St. Sebastian Parish in Providence until 2000.
The Bishop also enjoyed five years as a Special Lecturer in the Undergraduate and Graduate Departments of Theology at Providence College of the Dominican Fathers, between 1995 and 2000.
In January of 2000, Bishop Matano returned to the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C. where he served as Secretary to the Apostolic Nuncio until his Ordination as Coadjutor Bishop of Burlington on April 19, 2005.
Bishop Matano was named Prelate of Honor by His Holiness, Pope John Paul II in 1985, and received recognition from the Holy Father again in 1993 when he was named Prothonotary Apostolic.
His Holiness Pope Francis appointed Bishop Matano as the Bishop Designate of Rochester on Nov. 6, 2013. He was installed as the Ninth Bishop of Rochester at a Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester on the afternoon of Friday, January 3, 2014.