A funeral Mass for Father Louis J. Oldani, SJ, was celebrated Nov. 29 at the chapel of St. Ignatius Hall at Garden Villas North in Florissant. Father Oldani died on Nov. 19 in Florissant. He was 92 years old, a Jesuit for 74 years and a priest for 61 years.
Louis J. Oldani was born in St. Louis on March 1, 1933, to Louis V. and Josephine A. (Ponciroli) Oldani, who preceded him in death, as did his sister Louise (Robert) Vivian. He is survived by his sister Sister Josephine Oldani, DC, and his brothers in the Society of Jesus.
A graduate of St. Louis University High School, he entered the Society of Jesus on Aug. 8, 1951, at St. Stanislaus Seminary in Florissant, and pronounced first vows on Aug. 15, 1953. He was ordained a priest on June 16, 1964, at St. Mary’s College in St. Marys, Kansas, where he studied theology. He professed his final vows in the Society of Jesus on Dec. 26, 1980, in St. Louis.
Father Oldani earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, a master’s in English, a licentiate in philosophy and a bachelor’s in sacred theology, all from Saint Louis University. He also completed a doctorate in English at the University of Pennsylvania.
Nearly all of Father Oldani’s ministry was with students in Kansas City, Missouri. As a regent, he taught English at Rockhurst High School. After completing his doctorate in English, he began teaching at Rockhurst College (later Rockhurst University) in 1971. He retired as a professor emeritus in 2016 — a total of 45 years. In 1979, he was a Mellon senior fellow at the University of Kansas.
He moved to St. Louis in 2016 to join the Jesuit Community at Saint Louis University and moved with his community to St. Ignatius Hall in 2023.
Father Oldani was a talented professor, devoted to his students and his colleagues and much appreciated by them. His classroom was not just about discussing the great works of literature; rather, it was an opportunity for, and a gateway into, discussion of the great ideas that the authors meant to share with their readers. He lived out an unwavering dedication to the Jesuit mission of education that was animated by his deep and abiding sense of justice. He saw himself as an advocate for the underdog and the underserved.
Burial was in Calvary Cemetery.
