Bishop Nelson Perez will celebrate the funeral Mass for Father Lawrence Tosco, CSJ at 11 a.m. June 28 at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 41295 North Ridge Road, Elyria.
Vespers are at 6 p.m. June 27 in Resurrection Chapel at the Center for Pastoral Leadership, 28700 Euclid Ave., Wickliffe. Visitation will begin 9 p.m., followed by night prayer. There also will be visitation 9:30-11 a.m. June 28 at St. Vincent de Paul, prior to Mass.
Father Tosco, 76, died on June 23.
He was born in 1942 in Pinerolo, in the province of Torino, Italy, to the late Tommaso and Garis Caterina Tosco.
In 1962, as a temporary professed member of the Congregation of St. Joseph, he was assigned to the community of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he attended the College of St. Joseph on the Rio Grande and also taught high school math and carpentry. In 1966, he returned to Italy for theological studies. After his priestly ordination in 1970, he undertook specialized studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.
Father Tosco came to Ohio in 1974, and was a professor of sacred Scripture at Saint Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology until 2018. In 1983, he obtained a doctorate from the Pontifical Biblical Institute with a dissertation on the Acts of the Apostles. He also served as formation director and in various administrative positions in the Congregation of St. Joseph.
Father Tosco served at Holy Rosary Church in Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood from 1977 to 1988. After that, he lived in the house of the Congregation of St. Joseph in Avon and he offered liturgical services at several Lorain County parishes.
Besides seminary teaching, lectures and ministry in local parishes, his time was filled with physical activity. Father cared for the community’s property and the vegetable garden, cooked Italian food and made homemade wine.
He was known as a kind, compassionate, brilliant and humble man who led a wholesome and balanced life. Those who knew him said his spirituality and strong love for God’s Word saturated the house as well as his classroom, where he blessed his students and colleagues with his time, his warmth and his intellect. The CSJ and Saint Mary Seminary communities were blessed to have him as father, brother, teacher and friend.
Father Tosco is survived by a brother, Franco Tosco; a sister, Teresita (Vincenzo) Gulisano; and nephews Paolo Tosco and Andrea Gulisano.
Burial will be in St. Mary Cemetery, Avon.
Memorial donations can be made to Congregation of St. Joseph Seminary Fund, 4076 Case Road, Avon, Ohio 44011.