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Man on a mission
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Father Vit Fiala
The Rev. Vit Fiala, a cellist, plays concerts to benefit the work of his religious order.
Vindicator Religion Editor
YOUNGSTOWN — Music provided the means to freedom, a new life and vocation for the Rev. Vit Fiala.
The musical studies of the native of Czechoslovakia began when he was about 6 years old. Father Vit said he was fortunate to study with P. Sadlo, the founder of the Czechoslovakia cello school, and S. Apolin, a renowned European cellist.
In his career as a cellist, he traveled extensively throughout Eastern and Western Europe. He played with the National Opera and Chamber Players, both of Brno, the capital of Moravia, and the Aus Symphony Orchestra in Prague, both in Czechoslovakia. With the symphony in Prague, he was concert master.
Though he enjoyed a certain amount of freedom as a musician, his homeland was under Communist rule. At a musical engagement in 1985 in Austria, Father Vit said he escaped Communism because, “I just forgot to go back.”
He said he never had discussed defection with anyone, and he didn’t leave for any “political reason.” “I had it in my mind since I was young,” Father Vit said of leaving the Communist country. “The first time I saw the globe ... it was about seeing the world.” (In 1989, Czechoslovakia returned to democracy; in 1993, the country split into the independent Czech Republic and Slovakia.)
Father Vit applied for citizenship in Australia, Canada and the United States. He went to Canada in 1987.
While he had his music, he also was thinking of something else. “I got serious about my spiritual life,” Father Vit said. He noted that practicing one’s faith was difficult under the Communist regime.
Father Vit visited six religious orders. “I didn’t fit well,” he recalled. Visiting a Francisan order had crossed his mind and it was serendipity along with bad weather that were instrumental in his choice. “There was a huge storm and I was walking by a Franciscan house {in Toronto},” he said, noting he sought shelter. “When I was there 10 minutes, I knew it was the right place,” Father Vit said.
In 1990, he became a member of the Order of Friars Minor. Known as Franciscans, the order’s territories are organized in provinces, he said. The Province of the Immaculate Conception, headquartered in New York, includes Toronto, Canada; the northeast United States including Ohio; and missions Central America in its territory. The order assigned Father Vit to the Shrine of Our Lady, Comforter of the Afflicted, 517 S. Belle Vista Ave. He has served as director for 10 years.
The Franciscan order, founded in the early 1200s, has friars worldwide who serve in a variety of ministries in parish life, urban ministry, retreat work and missionary work.
The Franciscan lifestyle follows the example of St. Francis of Assisi, its patron, in lives free of possessions and attitudes and answers the mission of the church by spreading the message of Christ. “It’s not living in the image of St. Francis but trying to live in the image of God,” he said. “St. Francis developed a following by accident,” Father Vit said, noting that followers were attracted to his penitent lifestyle of prayer and service.
“The friars are my family,” Father Vit said. “Being a priest is my vocation ... my work.”
At the Shrine of Our Lady, his duties as a priest are the focus and include saying Mass, hearing confessions and offering spiritual direction. Father Vit also is bi-ritual, that is, able to say Masses in both Byzantine and Roman rites. “The shrine is a place for people to come who are seeking spiritual renewal,” he said. “It’s not only a place to fulfill your obligation of attending Mass but participating in a pilgrimage or devotions.
Father Vit said the shrine has the distinction of having one of four statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Fatima, which were dispatched to the “four corners of the world.” The Bishop of Fatima had four replicas of the original statue made for this use.
“The shrine has the one in the West,” he said, and noted that it also was carried in the first procession held at Fatima to mark the miracle of the Blessed Virgin appearing to the three children.
Father Vit noted that the shrine, which is part of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown, hosts prayer groups and offers regular novenas.
As part of his duty as a Franciswcan, he helps to support the order’s missions in New York and Central America. And he does that through his talent as a cellist by presenting concerts.
This weekend, he will perform in concert with pianist Amy Vinisko, a member of the music faculty at the Canterbury School, New Milford, Conn., and minister of music at New Preston Congregational Church. He became acquainted with the pianist when he spent two years assigned in Connecticut.
“The cello I had before was not the best. Now I’ve got an excellent cello,” Father Vit said.
The concert, Father Vit said, will feature classical music including Sonata in E Minor by Brahms and pieces by Faure, Rachmaninov and Mendolsohnn.
“I’ve been practicing every day,” Father Vit said. But he also keeps his fingers limber playing weekly with a string quartet in the Pittsburgh area. “It keeps me motivated,” he said.