Date of death: 5/25/2010
Saint Meinrad Class: O 1936
Father Charles A. DeNardi, one of the first 40 priests to be assigned to the Diocese of Owensboro, KY, when it was formed in 1937, died at Owensboro Medical Health System. He was 100 and was a native of St. Mary, KY in Marion County.Father DeNardi is believed to be the last of the initial priests assigned to the Owensboro Diocese at the time of its creation. The area of the Owensboro Diocese had been part of the Louisville Diocese.He was serving as associate pastor of St. James Church in Louisville when he was asked to go to St. Ann Church in Morganfield, KY. Among his early assignments for the Diocese of Owensboro was as pastor of St. Mary Church in Big Clify, St. Paul Church in Leitchfield and St. Elizabeth Church in Grayson County.Father DeNardi produced a 20-page summary of his life for family and friends, and in it he described some of his early years as a priest in Grayson County.Back then whenever there was a church service, the church was filled,” he wrote. “On Sundays many would walk to church two or more miles in four, six or eight inches of snow. They’d sit in church for an hour when the church was not warm enough to thaw the snow on their boots, and then they’d walk back home. I think that called for a real, deep faith.During his lengthy career, Father DeNardi served at St. Elizabeth in Clarkson; St. Francis de Sales and Rosary Chapel in Paducah; St. Pius X in Calvery City; St. Jerome and St. St. Denis churches in Fancy Farm; and St. Charles Church in Bardwell. He retired in 1984.Information obtained from the June 3, 2010 issue of The Record, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Louisville.