‘Noodle Priest of Hong Kong’ Is Dead at 85

Msgr. John Romaniello, whose feeding of starving refugees earned him the sobriquet “The Noodle Priest of Hong Kong” has died.

Romaniello, 85, died Monday at the Maryknoll Fathers headquarters here.

He was born in Vigliano, Italy, and came to New Rochelle, N.Y., when he was 9. After ordination, he spent 23 years in China before the Communists captured and expelled him in 1948.

He wrote a novel, “The Bird of Sorrow,” based on that experience.

He returned to the United States, earned a master’s degree at Yale, then went to Hong Kong to work for Catholic Relief Services.

‘Noodle Priest’ Nickname

He earned the “Noodle Priest” nickname while working among Chinese refugees streaming into Hong Kong. He began converting U.S. surplus flour, powdered milk and corn flour into noodles when he discovered that those foodstuffs were piling up in warehouses because there were no ovens to bake in. He took a single noodle machine and expanded it into 17 noodle factories in Hong Kong and other Asian and African nations where 2,000 workers produced 5,000 three-pound packages for daily distribution. The noodles became the primary food for many refugees.

The factories were supported by private donations, including, for a time in the 1960s, 10% of the winnings of a race horse owned by an American businessman.

Returned to U.S. in 1960s

Romaniello returned to the United States in the 1960s and continued to work for Catholic Relief Services until 1975, when he began working for the Maryknoll Fathers in Ossining and Hong Kong.

Interviewed in 1964 by The Times, Romaniello said he learned over the years never to ask “too many questions” of the tens of thousands of people he had fed. “When you are going to give a gift, just give it, and with a little respect for the dignity of man.”