Father Nicholas Fleming was always comfortable around music. As an adolescent he wrote songs and performed them for his family, and in high school he participated in chorus and band. But when he stood up to chant the Gospel before Pope Francis and the newly created cardinals at a Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica in February, his hands shook so badly he had to clasp them before his chest just to keep them still.
“It was one of those moments you go back to afterwards and say, ‘Yeah, you did that?’”
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The opportunity to chant the Gospel before the Holy Father may have come as a surprise, but the path to priesthood that led him to Saint Peter’s was as old as his love for music. Father Fleming reflected on his vocational journey during an interview at his home in Tiverton several days before his June 27 ordination. Also present were his mother, Mrs. Elaine Fleming, grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert and Lucille Lapointe and home pastor Father Jay Finelli of Holy Ghost Church.
“I feel most at home in the parish,” said Father Fleming.
Brought up in the faith by a family active in parish life, Father Fleming altar served his first Mass at eight years old. It was at this Mass, during the consecration of the Eucharist, that he first experienced the call to become a priest.
“There was a tapping. God was tapping on my heart during the consecration,” he said. “I had this inclination [to join the priesthood].”
As he grew older, Father Fleming wrestled with the decision of whether or not this inclination was a true vocational calling from God. His family was supportive, promising to accept the results of his discernment either way.
“I told him, ‘I want you to make this decision by yourself,’ ” said Mrs. Fleming.
Knowing his family was behind him regardless of his decision gave Father Fleming a sense of relief and only furthered his certainty that he was called to a life of service to the priesthood. He entered the Seminary of Our Lady of Providence in 2007 after graduating from Tiverton High School, attending first Rhode Island College and then Providence College in pursuit of a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy.
Though Father Fleming would never admit it – “He’s always been very humble,” said Mr. Lapointe – his family said he excelled at minor seminary. They were thrilled to learn he would have the opportunity to continue his studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. For Father Fleming, who always remained close with his family and home parish, the transition was big.
“It was the first time I was away from my family for any amount of time,” he said.
In Rome, he continued to practice music while studying for a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree. When he realized he wanted his trumpet a few days after leaving, Father Finelli arranged for a pilot friend to bring it to him during his next route to Rome. Father Fleming chanted the Gospel at mass twice during his stay, once before the pope. The atmosphere surrounding the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and inauguration of Pope Francis, he said, was “electrified.”
Father Fleming travelled to several European countries with other seminarians during his stay, and, during one of his summer assignments, taught English at a missionary church in Taiwan. It was while kneeling by his bedside after arriving on an 18-hour flight, he said, that he experienced one of his most special moments of prayer.
Father Fleming kept in touch with family and friends through social media, keeping a blog and playing regular games of “Words with Friends” on his phone with Mrs. Lapointe. The days of writing letters across the Atlantic Ocean, Mrs. Fleming said, are long over.
“Thank God for Skype,” she said.
When asked how the house felt after her son left, Mrs. Fleming laughed.
“Quiet,” she said, then explained. “He gets up in the morning and he’s singing.”
For Father Finelli, who’d spent many years saying mass with a young Father Fleming altar serving at his side, the absence was bittersweet.
“It was like losing my right hand man,” he said.
Father Finelli, who has been at Holy Ghost Church for 13 years, was Father Fleming’s confirmation sponsor and assisted him in assuming his new priestly vestments during Saturday’s ordination. The two enjoyed reminiscing about the many noteworthy parish masses they’ve spent together, including one Christmas when both realized mid-mass that they had forgotten to prepare baby Jesus for placement in the manger.
“I think he lost all his hair from me,” Father Fleming joked with a smile.
When Father Fleming was ordained a deacon at Saint Peter’s Basilica in October 2014, his mother, grandparents, Father Finelli and a large group of supporters from Holy Ghost travelled to Rome to witness the occasion. For Mr. and Mrs. Lapointe, it was their first flight.
“It was beautiful,” said Mrs. Fleming, who sat in the front row at the basilica. “Very overwhelming.”
“He’s got a way of bringing everybody out like that,” added Mr. Lapointe about the pilgrims that went to visit his grandson.
More than 80 parishioners from Holy Ghost attended Father Fleming’s ordination, in addition to family from Virginia and North Carolina and parishioners from St. Joseph, Woonsocket, Blessed Sacrament, Providence and St. Bernard, Wickford, where he started several youth groups and developed close friendships during his summer assignments.
While his mother says he’s a different man when he’s on the altar, his grandfather points out that his time in Rome has not made him any less approachable at the parish level.
“He’s still the same Nick,” said Mr. Lapointe.
At Holy Ghost, where Father Fleming is the first new priest to call the parish home in 74 years, a strong community of support has offered prayers and encouragement throughout the seminarian process. He said his first mass to a packed church on Sunday, June 28, followed by a celebration with the parish.
For Mrs. Fleming, the realization of her son’s vocation was still sinking in a few days before the ordination. “Sometimes I think, ‘Oh yeah, you’re going to be a priest. You’re still my son, but you’re going to be a priest.’ ”
“She’s a good mom,” said Father Fleming, and his grandfather smiled.
“He has the heart of his mother,” Mr. Lapointe added.
Toward the end of the interview, Father Fleming remembered an encounter he had with an American woman asking for directions on the streets of Rome at night. He walked with the woman to Saint Peter’s Basilica, explaining its history and significance along the way. The woman, a Protestant, was amazed to see the basilica, and Father Fleming was able to experience Rome anew while watching her reaction. Just like when his family visited, he said, the city and the faith were made new by seeing them for the first time through someone else’s eyes.
“I’ve always found solace in a church,” Father Fleming had said earlier in the interview. Now, as a newly ordained priest, he is able to convey this solace to the others he meets on his path.
After serving a temporary assignment at Saint Philip Parish, Greenville, Father Fleming will return to Rome to finish his studies in the fall. He will return to the Diocese of Providence in June 2016.
