Romuald Chinetsky, OFM

1930 – 2021

Br. Romuald Chinetsky, OFM, was born on March 3, 1930 in Throop, Pennsylvania. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the military and was assigned to the mess hall. He attended the Army’s culinary school and spent two years as a cook, serving part of his enlistment in Korea, before he was honorably discharged in 1953.

One year later, he was admitted into the Province’s lay brother training program at St. Stephen’s Friary in Croghan, New York. He was received into the novitiate in 1956 and professed first vows one year later. In 1960, Br. Rom made his solemn profession at St. Anthony Shrine in Boston.

During his initial formation, Br. Rom began working as a cook and a baker while living at St. Joseph Seraphic Seminary in Callicoon, New York, and he remained there after making his solemn profession. In 1963, he moved to St. Francis College in Rye Beach, New Hampshire, where he continued working into the kitchen. Four years later, he moved to Siena College and began a 44-year stint as the friary’s guestmaster, maintaining the residence and managing hospitality, greeting visitors, and arranging guest accommodations.

In 2011, Br. Rom retired and moved to Holy Name Friary in Ringwood, New Jersey. When the skilled nursing facility closed in 2019, he moved to Terersian House in Albany, New York.

He died there on March 10, 2021. Br. Romuald was 90 years old and had been a professed Franciscan friar for 63 years.