HERALD Staff Report
(From the issue of 5/13/04)

Father Julius J. Cilinski, a member of one of the most prominent Catholic families in Virginia and the second longest tenured priest in the Arlington Diocese, died May 8. He was 86.

Father Cilinski was the brother of Msgr. John T. Cilinski and the uncle of Father Robert Cilinski. He recently made a pilgrimage to Rome with Father Christopher Buckner to celebrate the beginning of his 60^th year in the priesthood (ACH 3/25/04, page 2).

The date of the audience with Pope John Paul II fell on the anniversary of Father Cilinski’s first Mass. He also brought with him a photo of the Holy Father giving Communion to his parents, Peter and Amelia Cilinski, at the Oct. 7, 1979, papal Mass on the Washington Mall.

A viewing was to be held at St. Andrew the Apostle Church, 6720 Union Mill Rd., Clifton, on May 12. A Mass of Christian Burial was scheduled for Thursday, May 13, at 11 a.m. at St. Andrew the Apostle Church, with interment at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Alexandria.

Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde will be the celebrant and Father Jerome Fasano, pastor of St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, will be the homilist.

Julius Cilinski was born June 19, 1918, in Curtis Bay, Md. He attended the Xaverian Brothers’ School in Alexandria and St. John’s Military School in Washington, D.C., where he graduated in 1935.

He graduated from St. Charles College in Baltimore in 1939 and St. Mary’s Seminary, also in Baltimore, in 1945. He was ordained by former Richmond Bishop Peter Ireton on March 3, 1945.

Father Cilinski served as parochial vicar at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish, Port Richmond (1945); St. Paul Parish, Richmond (1948); and Sacred Heart Parish, Winchester (1955).

He was pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Martinsville (1959); St. John Parish, Waynesboro (1961); St. Paul Parish, Portsmouth (1964); Queen of Apostles Parish in Alexandria (1974); Sacred Heart Parish, Winchester (1978); and St. Stephen the Martyr Parish, Middleburg (1984). He retired from active priestly ministry in 1993.

Father Cilinski celebrated his 50^th anniversary in the priesthood on March 5, 1995, at St. Mary Church in Alexandria, his home parish.

In addition to his brother and nephew, Father Cilinski is survived by two other brothers: Walter P. of Falls Church and Edward P. of Alexandria; and three sisters: Sister M. Camilla, C.S.C.; Mary Schuyler of Alexandria; and Helen Terry of Springfield.