An important development for the Constantinian Order in the United States: The Most Rev. Salvatore J. Cordileone, Metropolitan Archbishop of San Francisco, has been named by the Grand Master and Grand Prior of the Order as the prior of its American Delegation, beginning August 1, 2021, feast of St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, and a historic Minor Principal Patron of the Order.
Archbishop Cordileone, 65 years old, Ecclesiastical Knight Grand Cross of Grace of the Constantinian Order, is a grandson of Sicilian immigrants, and a native of California. Ordained a priest in 1982, he was consecrated a bishop in 2002, and became archbishop of San Francisco in 2012, receiving the pallium the following year. A doctor of Canon Law since 1989, the Archbishop is president of the Committee on the Laity, Marriage and Family Life of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and a member of other USCCB committees. He is also a member of other Catholic boards and institutions.
The priorate of any Delegation is an important spiritual charge, carried out with the assistance of a subprior, in collaboration with the Delegate, the Office of the Grand Prior and the Grand Chancery. The American Delegation, whose origins go back to 1979 and solidified ten years later, guided by Cav. Gran Uff. John Viola, happy for the nomination of the esteemed prelate as its new prior, hopes that it will be yet another sign of its continued renewal.