Brother Fidelis DeBerardinis
Diocese of Albany
Franciscan Friar: 1948
Retired: 1992
Assigned as follows:
- 1968-1973: Our Lady of Mount Carmel (East Boston, MA)
- 1974-1988: St. Francis (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
- 1988: St. Anthony’s Monastery (Catskill, NY)
- 1990: St. Francis (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
- 2002-2004: St. Anthony’s Monastery (Catskill, NY)
Summary of Abuse Allegations against Brother Fidelis DeBerardinis:
According to media reports, in 2003, Brother Fidelis DeBerardinis of the Franciscan’s Province of the Immaculate Conception was convicted of sexually abusing eight altar boys. The abuse occurred at a variety of locations in the church and rectory of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in East Boston from 1968-1973. The age range of the boys raped was eight to thirteen years old. The Franciscan order moved DeBerardinis around the globe from 1973 on. He served in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Trinidad. In 1974, he served in Israel, New York, and Ireland, where he was accused of molesting a minor.
DeBerardinis was transferred to a monastery in the Catskills, New York in 1988. In 1991, a Novice at St. Francis accused DeBerardinis of making inappropriate sexual advances. DeBerardinis was then hospitalized at the Southdown Institute in Aurora, Ontario, for six months for evaluation and treatment. Southdown is a residential facility that specializes in treating priests who molested children. He was released from Southdown in 1992 and retired to St. Bonaventure in Toronto, a friary with no associated church. In 1992, one of the eight victims in Boston received a settlement from the Franciscan order. In 1994, DeBerardinis was sent to a retirement home for Friars in Clearwater, Florida, where he lived until his arrest in 2002.
DeBerardinis was sentenced in May 2004, to eight years in prison, followed by 10 years probation, and was ordered to register as a sex offender upon his release. His name was omitted from the 2011 Archdiocese of Boston list of clergy credibly accused of sex abuse of minors. As of 2017, he remains incarcerated in a Massachusetts prison.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Albany. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Albany, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Albany now have legal options to recover damages due to a compensation fund created for victims. Call us at 888-283-9922 or send an email to [email protected] to discuss your options today.