Editors of Vatican Notes

Daniel A. Piazza #3892

2007-present

Since becoming editor of Vatican Notes in 2007, Dan Piazza has redesigned the publication and introduced new features, including numismatic and auction watch columns and a full-color cover. He has striven to improve the journal's balance in terms of the variety of material covered and the timeliness of its news and information. His goal is a publication that is attractive and readable; that both attracts new members and retains current subscribers.

Piazza received the VPS President's Award in 2006 for developing the Society's website and the Veritas award in 2007. The American Philatelic Society named him an Outstanding Young Adult Philatelist for 2009. He is Assistant Curator of Philately for the Smithsonian Institution and a member of the National Postal Museum's Council of Philatelists.

Gregorio (Greg) Pirozzi #3279

2006-2007

Greg Pirozzi signed on as editor of Vatican Notes for a limited period of time, but he was no mere caretaker editor. He took the journal from offset into digital production, introduced color, and greatly  improved the quality of its illustrations. He strove for more balance in terms of the variety of material covered. At the same time, he continued to contribute his own first-rate scholarship on Vatican postal history.

Greg joined the Vatican Philatelic Society in 1989 and has contributed more than 75 articles to the Notes. He is also an active Vatican exhibitor with exhibits on mail from Vatican extraterritorial properties; the postal history of the first issue (the Conciliation series); and the postal history of the Vatican's Office of War Information. His other collecting interests include WWII world-wide censorship and pre-1945 Italy.

K. Thomas Adkins #3624

2003-2006

Mount Sinai, New York

Dennis P. Brady #2523

1993-2001

Manlius, New York

† Cynthia V. DesMarais #2924

1989

Clifton, New Jersey

Cindy DesMarais compiled the first cumulative index to Vatican Notes, covering the first 33 years of the journal, in 1985. She took over as editor from Bill Wickert with the July 1989 issue, the first to be composed using a desktop computer rather than a typewriter. Her first issue was also her last; she died on July 25 and Wickert resumed the editorship. Although Wickert occasionally used the nameplate that DesMarais created, it would be more than a decade before the journal was again produced on a personal computer.

† William M. Wickert, Sr. #2663

1980-1989, 1989-1993, 2001-2003

Virginia Beach, Virginia

Bill Wickert edited 84 issues of Vatican Notes over 17 years—more than anyone else in the journal's history. He mentored several writers, including Greg Pirozzi, who later succeeded him as editor. While editing the journal, he served as chairman of the society's general convention at VAPEX 1987. After his resignation as editor in 2003, Wickert served the society as a governor at large until his death.

Wickert also collected Israel, Lichtenstein, U.S., and Virginia and Pennsylvania postal history. He was a member of the Virginia Beach Stamp Club and a director of the VAPEX stamp show. He held memberships in the Collectors Club of New York, the Society of Philatelic Americans, the American Philatelic Society, the Classics Society, and the 1869 Pictorial Research Association. In addition to Vatican Notes, he edited the newsletters of the Virginia Philatelic Federation and the Parachute Study Group. He died May 25, 2005 at age 82.

Joseph Trent #2656

1979-1980

Worcester, Massachusetts

Joseph M. Lo Preiato #351

1977-1979

Newington, Connecticut

Joe Lo Preiato edited only a dozen issues of Vatican Notes, but they spanned 1978—the year of three popes—and included coverage of the two Sede Vacante periods. He changed the journal's layout, introducing distinctive headlines to denote regular columns and improving the quality of illustrations. His new issue articles were characterized by intensive historical research into the themes and individuals portrayed on the stamps. These were often reprinted in Linn's Stamp News to attract new members.   

In mid-1979, Lo Preiato left Vatican Notes to start his own publication. He founded the International Guild of Vatican Philatelists and edited its journal, The Philatelic Nuncio, which he issued during Vatican Notes’ off-months. The IGVP disbanded in November 1984, but Lo Preiato remains active in numerous philatelic societies including the VPS, Local Post Collectors Society, and Mailer's Permit Postmark Club. 

Rev. Fr. George L. O'Brien #2367
1974-1977

Worcester, Massachusetts

Fr. O'Brien volunteered to serve as interim editor of Vatican Notes after Fr. Phinney's illness. That turned into a three-year hitch during which the hallmark of the Notes was current reporting on new issues, usually with a cacheted FDC on the cover. Near the end of his editorship he was simultaneously president of the society. In addition to Vatican City, he collects stamps of U.S., UN, Ireland, and Israel.

Ordained by Bishop John Wright on May 15, 1958, Fr. O’Brien served his native Diocese of Worcester for 48 years. In addition to several parish assignments, he was a member of the diocesan marriage tribunal and studied canon law at Catholic University of America. In 1971 he received the Catholic Youth Organization's "God and Youth" medal. From 1976-1994, he was director of development at Holy Cross College and student athlete chaplain. Since his retirement in 2006, Fr. O'Brien has resided on Cape Cod. He is an active member of the VPS.

† Rev. Fr. Herbert A. Phinney #3

1963-1974

Boston, Massachusetts

Fr. Phinney edited 66 issues of Vatican Notes, a record that was surpassed only by Bill Wickert. He held VPS charter membership #3 and served as vice president before becoming editor. Fr. Phinney was particularly interested in forgeries, and Vatican Notes carried many good articles on that subject during his editorship. He was forced to retire as editor in 1974 after suffering a stroke.

Ordained by William Henry Cardinal O'Connell on May 22, 1935, Fr. Phinney served in the North African and Italian campaigns as an army chaplain during World War II. He was a philatelic advisor to fellow VPS member Francis Cardinal Spellman and wrote philatelic articles under the pseudonym Bert Happ. He died in retirement at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, May 4, 1979, at age 71.

† Francis E. (Frank) Welch #308

1961-1962

Arlington, Virginia

Following Hutcheson's illness and resignation, Frank Welch agreed to edit Vatican Notes for one year while a permanent replacement was sought. His term ended with the July-August 1962 issue, coinciding with William Wonneberger's resignation as president; this loss of leadership led to two missed installments of the Notes in a truncated Volume 11. Frank later served the society as vice president and president.

In 1960, following his retirement from the Western Union Telegraph Company, Welch was hired as a museum technician in the Smithsonian Institution's Division of Philately and Postal History. He organized and mounted 60,000 stamps into the double-sided pull-out exhibition frames at the Museum of History and Technology (today's National Museum of American History) and rehoused many of the Division's specialized collections of foreign philatelic material. He left the Smithsonian in 1971 and retired to Conway, New Hampshire, where he died May 7, 1987 at age 78.

† Robert J. Hutcheson #309

1959-1961

St. Louis, Missouri

† George M. K. Baker #464

1957-1958

Princeton, New Jersey

† Catharine R. Hughes #60

1954-1955

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Catharine Rachel Hughes was an 18-year old high school graduate when she edited the January 1954 issue of Vatican Notes. During her brief tenure as the journal's youngest-ever editor, she published 13 issues comprising half of Volume 1 and all of Volume 2. In addition to writing most of the content herself, Hughes also mimeographed and mailed the publication. She resigned to take a public relations job with the Catholic publishing firm Sheed and Ward.

Hughes later became a free-lance theater critic and contributed articles to such magazines as Commonweal, America, Playbill, and The Nation. Her historical play, Madame Lafayette, was produced off-Broadway at the Dominican-run Blackfriars Guild Theatre on West 57th Street. She edited the American Theatre Annual, which reviewed the casts, plots, and reviews of American theatrical productions, and wrote several full-length works on American theater. She died July 12, 1987 at age 51.

† William T. Wonneberger, Jr. #1

1953; 1955-1957

As the founder of the Vatican Philatelic Society, Bill Wonneberger also edited the first four issues of Vatican Notes in 1953. He returned as editor in 1955 following Catharine Hughes' resignation. During this second term he began having the journal commercially printed rather than mimeographed, allowing for extensive illustration. Using his contacts in the Vatican and the U.S. philatelic press (especially Ernest A. Kehr of the New York Herald Tribune) Wonneberger often presented advance notice of new stamp issues during an age in which the Vatican often did not announce its annual philatelic program.  
 

Wonneberger, a part-time mail-order philatelic dealer, penned a one-off column prophetically titled “Vatican Notes” in the July 1952 issue of the Italy Stamp Group's Newsletter. The following year, his series of articles on Vatican stamps in Linn's Weekly Stamp News led to creation of the Vatican Philatelic Society. In addition to his philatelic interests, he was active in the Catholic Scouting movement and received the Order of St. George. He died in Bridgeport on April 24, 1976 at age 45.