January 13, 2021

By Darcy Fargo
Editor

WATERTOWN – Father Vicente F. Jazmines will be remembered for his love of movies, good meals, our Blessed Mother and his priesthood.

Father Jazmines entered the next life on January 7, 2021 after a battle with COVID-19. A complete obituary can be found on the following page.

“He was very kind,” said Sister Mary Helen Hermann, a Sister of St. Joseph. “He was intelligent. He was gentle. He was a holy priest. He really cherished his priesthood.”

Sister Mary Helen said and Father Jazmines became friends when he served at St. Augustine Parish in Peru. She was principal there at the time.

“He was very supportive of the school and available to the students,” she said. “He was available to the youth group. He was available to the Knights of Columbus. He was available when I needed him. He was available to anyone who needed him. He had a lot of experience as an administrator, and he had good advice when ticklish situations came up.”

Sister said Father Jazmines enjoyed visiting the local convent and visiting with the sisters there. She said she recalled a particular Christmas when he was invited to help decorate the Christmas trees in the convent.

“He asked if we had a real tree,” she said. “I told him, ‘yes. We have one real, one artificial.’ He was only interested in decorating the real tree. He comes over, and the real tree is in one room, and the artificial tree is in another room. The artificial tree is our ‘penguin tree.’ We decorate it with penguins. He really enjoyed decorating that penguin tree.”

Sister Mary Helen said Father Jazmines enjoyed a bit of silliness and fun.

“During Catholic Schools Week, if we had crazy slipper day, he’d come over with crazy slippers and join the fun,” she said. “It was good for the kids to see him in that light. He enjoyed celebrations, and he was easy to roast. He enjoyed being roasted. He’d laugh! He had an infectious laugh. He was just a good, good person. He enjoyed life. He was a good and loyal friend.”

Helen Dispo, a parishioner of St. Augustine in Peru, said Father Jazmines “became like a brother” to her, as both were originally from the Philippines.

“He officiated at our 25th anniversary,” she said. “He stayed with us when he came to the Plattsburgh area. He married and baptized our children and grandchildren. He was instrumental in me becoming involved in Formation for Ministry and RCIA. He was my spiritual guide and counselor. He was a very close family friend.”

Dispo said Father Jazmines would say Mass for the family when he visited, and they would stay up late discussing Scripture and faith.

“If we needed anything from him for us or for our children, he was always there,” she said. “He’d feel bad if we didn’t have him officiate every occasion we had. When my grandson was preparing for first Holy Communion, he asked the priest, ‘can I have my own personal priest give me the Eucharist?’ If there’s such a thing as a personal priest, he was it.”

Dispo also noted Father Jazmines took great joy in good food and in movies.

“If he was coming here, before he comes, he would ask if I could cook Filipino foods,” she said. “When he goes back home, I’d make sure there was a lot of food for him to bring with him. He loved movies. He loved the Hallmark Channel. But when he’d watch television, he would doze off. I don’t know how much he actually watched.”

Father Kevin M. McEwan noted that Father Jazmines’ love of food was part of what forged a friendship between the two when Father McEwan served as a deacon with Father Jazmines.

“When I was ordained a deacon, I was assigned to his parish in Peru,” Father McEwan said. “We spent summer together. I’m not from the diocese, so I didn’t have a home in the diocese. When holidays arrived, I went to be with him and celebrate. They were wonderful days. We had similar interests. We both loved movies, a good meal and travel. It was a great learning experience to be with him, and it was beneficial in preparing me for my priesthood.”

Father McEwan said he and Father Jazmines were able to take a couple cruises together. They served as chaplains on ships cruising the Mediterranean and around New England.

“I got to see his outreach to the workers on the cruise ships,” he said. “A lot of them were from other countries, including the Philippines. He was able to make great connections. They appreciated his ministry to them.”

Father McEwan also noted Father Jazmines was “a very dedicated priest.”

“He loved our Holy Mother,” he said. “He had a particular devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. He was always very faithful in exercising the ministry of his priesthood and being a true follower of Jesus and reaching out to people in the best way he could.”