At 100 years old, and after 46 years as a permanent deacon, Mike Ascolese still shares his wisdom and faith with all who meet him.

As he rested on a bench in Eden Park when in his later 90s, Deacon Ascolese took in the Ohio River view while his now late wife, Jean, and their son, Tim, walked. A young man approached and asked, “Sir, may I ask your age?” and the two struck up a conversation about life and faith. Deacon Ascolese can’t recall the full conversation, but he shared advice that has guided him for decades: “Nothing is here by accident. You are not here by accident. You’re here for a purpose.”

He said moments like this, when he was simply going about his day and others came to him, continue to occur, long after his retirement from active ministry.

“In [just talking] you’re bringing to life … the Holy Spirit,” he said. “Why do you want to talk to me? I don’t know, none of us know. But in the talking, you made a mark.”

Deacon Ascolese’s formation goes back to his childhood in Boston, MA. Born Dec. 10, 1924, he attended public school but was also taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph at Sunday School.

Three days before he turned 18, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, bringing the U.S. into World War II. Ascolese and three friends heard the news as they left a movie and reported to a local armory for an interview.

As a medical technician in the Army Medical Corps, he found both his first vocation and the love of his life, Jean, a nurse who outranked him. They had raised six children and were married for 70 years when Jean passed away in 2022, at the age of 99.

Ascolese’s path to the diaconate grew naturally from his active parish involvement, where he organized retreats, led parish initiatives and inspired others through his faith. While living in Louisville, KY, he organized retreats to the Abbey of Gethsemani and was president of the Archdiocese of Louisville Retreat League, where he came to know the then Archbishop of Louisville, Thomas J. McDonough.

When Ascolese was transferred to Boston for work, Archbishop McDonough lamented the loss, expressing that he would have asked Ascolese to become a deacon. That was the first time Ascolese considered the ministry. Later, at a Boston celebration for his and Jean’s 50th wedding anniversary, a pastor asked him, “Why aren’t you a deacon?”

“Well, I don’t know what it’s all about, but I’ll find out when I get home,” Ascolese answered.

And he did. Archbishop Joseph L. Bernadin ordained Deacon Ascolese in the second class of permanent deacons for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, in 1979. Although Pope Paul VI had restored the permanent diaconate in 1967, dioceses needed time to determine how to implement this now-ubiquitous ministry.

Originally assigned to St. Bartholomew Parish north of Cincinnati, Deacon Ascolese was transferred to Our Mother of Sorrows in 1988 and became a pastoral minister there. In 2009, he returned to St. Bartholomew until taking senior status in 2016, at the age of 91. He also served on the archdiocesan tribunal.

Today, as the oldest living cleric in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, he still worships at St. Bartholomew. Limited mobility prevents him from assisting at Mass as a deacon, but he lectors when a priest celebrates Tuesday Mass at his assisted living facility, and, sometimes, to be counseled. He knows the Lord is still using him for a purpose.

“None of us is here by accident,” Deacon Ascolese said. “We’re out here by the will of God. It’s taken me a hundred years to pay attention to that gut feeling. … He’s got a plan for all of us. I have to admit, I’ve been trying [to understand]. … [Lord], tell me something about the way, show me this. I’m still grasping for some answers. Even with all that; still, at the end of all this, I’ll say, ‘Well, He knows. God knows what He’s got in mind. We just have to be ready. We all have to be ready.’”

This article appeared in the March 2025 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here