Accolades poured in and mission bells tolled Friday in Santa Barbara for Father Virgil Cordano, former pastor of the Santa Barbara Mission and a beloved, longtime spiritual figure throughout the community, who died Thursday evening. He was 89.

With his long brown Franciscan robe and twinkling smile, the diminutive man known as “Father Virgil” had recently been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, a mission spokeswoman said. He died at Mission Terrace Convalescent Hospital, with members of the religious community by his side.

In recent months, he had lived at the Vista del Monte Retirement Community in Santa Barbara.

Despite a series of illnesses over the last few years, he continued to preside at Mass, conduct theological reflection groups, hear confessions of second-graders of Marymount School, and make home visits to sick and dying friends, said Sister Susan Blomstad, director of the Mission Renewal Center.

Mario Garcia, UCSB history professor and Cordano's biographer, called him “a shining example of everything that is good about the Catholic church.”

His influence extended beyond mission walls, said former Santa Barbara Mayor Harriet Miller: “Father Virgil is the heart and soul of Santa Barbara.”

In Santa Maria, Sister Janet Corcoran, vice-president for mission services at Marian Medical Center, knew Cordano well.

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“His life exemplified virtues of service, generosity and unconditional love,” she said. “He taught not by words, but by his life. I've never heard one person speak ill of him. What's beautiful about Virgil was everyone was brother and sister to him. He was inclusive to all. He was recognized as the pastor of Santa Barbara by all denominations.”

She also expects throngs at his funeral service.

“They'll think the president's being buried. He was just someone you looked up to.”

Cordano was perhaps best known outside the church for his role in the city's annual Fiesta, having served on the Old Spanish Days board for 45 years.

“Father Virgil held a very special place in the hearts of the board of Old Spanish Days,” said Tim Taylor, El Presidente for the 2008 Fiesta and a sixth-generation Californian. “He was larger than life in this town. He will be missed, but will always be in our hearts.”

Opening each year's Fiesta on the front steps of the Mission at Fiesta Pequena, Cordano hosted dignitaries including governors Earl Warren and Ronald Reagan.

But Congresswoman Lois Capps noted that he was “equally at home blessing the fishing fleet and the Los Rancheros Visitadores as he was saying Mass at the Monastery of the Poor Clares or sitting by the bedside of a dying parishioner.” Annually, he blessed a group of motorcyclists.

When Capps' congressman husband Walter, a Lutheran, died in 1997, his funeral was held at the Santa Barbara Mission, where Cordano officiated with a Lutheran pastor.

Committed to inter-religious dialogue, Cordano served with Rabbi Arthur Gross-Schaefer and the Rev. Lloyd Saatjian, retired pastor of the First United Methodist Church, as honorary co-chairmen of St. Vincent's building project to provide housing for low-income families and seniors.

“It was a real joy working with him on that project,” said Saatjian, who visited Cordano at Mission Terrace two days before he died. “He was groggy but very alert. The last thing I said to him was, ‘We'll have a Methodist prayer if you don't mind.' He chuckled at that.”

Last January, Cordano, in a walker but with his voice as strong as ever, was a celebrant at St. Vincent's 150th anniversary celebration. There it was announced that Charles Schwab, who grew up in Santa Barbara before founding the stock brokerage firm bearing his name, had donated $1 million to name a community center in honor of Father Virgil at St. Vincent's Gardens family housing.

Friends have also established a chair of Catholic studies in his name in the department of religious studies at UCSB.

Cordano also has served on boards as diverse as the Santa Barbara Historical Society, the local chapter of the American Red Cross and the Anti-Defamation League. Two years ago, he played the role of a Cardinal in a Santa Barbara Opera production.

I Madonnari, an annual street-painting festival on the grounds of the Santa Barbara Mission that was dedicated to him in 2004, begins today for 2008.

Born in Sacramento in 1918, he came to St. Anthony's Seminary in Santa Barbara as a teenager in 1934. His given name was George but he took the name of Virgil when he received his Franciscan habit. Except for five years in studies elsewhere, including earning a doctorate at the Catholic University in Washington,

D. C., Cordano spent the rest of his life in ministry in Santa Barbara in various capacities.

He served as pastor of the Santa Barbara Mission from 1976 to 1994.

“I consider myself fortunate to have been assigned to Santa Barbara,” he once said.

Cordano was preceded in death by his parents, Victor and Mary, and four brothers, James, Andrew, Garfield and Raymond. Nephews and a niece survive.

Visitation will be Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Santa Barbara Mission. Various prayer and vigil services will be held both days.

The funeral Mass will be held Friday at 11 a.m. on the front steps of the Mission to accommodate as many people as possible outdoors. Private burial will be in the Friars Vaults of the Mission.

Welch-Ryce-Haider Funeral Chapels in Santa Barbara are in charge of arrangements. Contributions may be made to the Father Virgil Cordano Living Memory Fund for preservation and advancement of Mission Santa Barbara.

May 24, 2008