A visitation will take place from 4-7 p.m. Monday, May 1, at St. Roch Church, 6052 Waterman Boulevard. A visitation will also be held at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 2, at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, followed by the funeral Mass at 10 a.m. The Mass will be livestreamed at cathedralstl.org/liturgy-sacraments/livestream.

Salvatore Emmanual Polizzi was born Nov. 8, 1930, to Vito and Rosalia (Randazzo) Polizzi in St. Louis. He was baptized on Jan. 4, 1931, at Our Lady Help of Christians Church in St. Louis.

He attended Cathedral Latin School, St. Louis Preparatory Seminary and Kenrick Seminary. He was ordained on March 17, 1956, by then-Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis.

His first assignment was as assistant pastor at St. Ambrose Parish in the Hill neighborhood of south St. Louis. He then served as assistant pastor at St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish in Riverview Gardens from 1959-64 before returning to St. Ambrose.

At St. Ambrose, Msgr. Polizzi founded the Hill 2000 organization and created Hill Day. He was known for leading neighborhood opposition to a drive-in movie theater and a plan to pump industrial wastes into an abandoned clay mine, and for trying to keep Interstate 44 from isolating part of the Hill. He taught a course at Cardinal Glennon College called “The Priest in Community Action” for eight years and gave numerous lectures on urban affairs.

He was a member of the Human Rights Commission for the state and St. Louis city, the Danforth Leadership Program, the Magdala Foundation, the Coro Foundation and the Community Development Agency. For 17 years, he chaired the Land Reutilization Authority of the city and was a member of the St. Louis Development Corp. He was also on the executive committee of St. Louis Regional Hospital and was an original member of the board of directors for Operation Food Search.

A former member of the housing commission of Catholic Charities, he was appointed director of the archdiocesan Office of Urban and Community Affairs in 1979. He also was chair of the National Center for Urban and Ethnic Affairs at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

He held a master’s degree in urban planning from Saint Louis University and was the first priest to receive the SLU Alumni Merit Award.

In 1981, he was assigned as pastor of St. Roch Parish in the West End, where he remained for the rest of his life.

He was named a prelate of honor by St. John Paul II in 1986, taking the title monsignor. He received the Community Achievement Award from the Catholic Youth Apostolate in 2010.

Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery.