Nick Castelli Photography

27/06/2024

I don’t typically do engagement shoots, but I guess for my future brother and sister in laws I can make an exception 😉

Congratulations to Sean and Emma!

📍 Cape May, New Jersey

09/06/2024

Today I had the honor of photographing Fr. Dennis Gannon’s first Mass of Thanksgiving at the Church of St. Aiden in Williston Park, New York. God bless you Father as you begin your priestly life!

📍 St. Aiden’s Church | Williston Park, NY

08/06/2024

Congratulations to Fr. Dennis Gannon and Fr. Joseph Letteri on being ordained to the priesthood today for the Diocese of Rockville Centre!

📍 | Rockville Centre, NY

26/04/2024

Formators and vocations directors for women religious institutes gather for a conference hosted by the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, New York.

Thanks to for inviting me to photograph this!

01/04/2024

“On Easter night, the night of the new creation, the Church presents the mystery of light using a unique and very humble symbol: the Paschal candle. This is a light that lives from sacrifice. The candle shines inasmuch as it is burnt up. It gives light, inasmuch as it gives itself. Thus the Church presents most beautifully the paschal mystery of Christ, who gives himself and so bestows the great light.“ Pope Benedict XVI | Easter Vigil Homily, 2012

Bishop John Barres celebrates the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday at St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre, New York on March 30, 2024.

📍 | Rockville Centre, New York

29/03/2024

“The anguish of the Passion of the Lord Jesus cannot fail to move to pity even the most hardened hearts, as it constitutes the climax of the revelation of God’s love for each of us.” Pope Benedict XVI | Way of the Cross, Good Friday 2009

Bishop John Barres presides over The Passion of Our Lord on Good Friday at St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre, New York on March 29, 2024.

📍 | Rockville Centre, New York

29/03/2024

“Holy Thursday is not only the day of the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist, whose splendour bathes all else and in some ways draws it to itself. To Holy Thursday also belongs the dark night of the Mount of Olives, to which Jesus goes with his disciples; the solitude and abandonment of Jesus, who in prayer goes forth to encounter the darkness of death…

Jesus goes forth into the night. Night signifies lack of communication, a situation where people do not see one another. It is a symbol of incomprehension, of the obscuring of truth. It is the place where evil, which has to hide before the light, can grow. Jesus himself is light and truth, communication, purity and goodness. He enters into the night. Night is ultimately a symbol of death, the definitive loss of fellowship and life. Jesus enters into the night in order to overcome it and to inaugurate the new Day of God in the history of humanity.“

Pope Benedict XVI | Holy Thursday Homily, 2012

Bishop John Barres celebrates the Mass of the Lord’s Supper for Holy Thursday at St. Agnes Cathedral on March 28, 2024.

📍 | Rockville Centre, New York

27/03/2024

“The prelude to the Easter Triduum… is the solemn Chrism Mass, which the Bishop celebrates with his priests… This is a gesture of great value, an especially favorable opportunity in which priests reaffirm their personal fidelity to Christ who has chosen them as his ministers.” Pope Benedict XVI | General Audience: April 8, 2009

The Most Rev. John O. Barres, bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, celebrates the Chrism Mass with priests from around the diocese at the Cathedral of St. Agnes on March 26, 2024.

📍 | Rockville Centre, NY

14/03/2024

Today at we took advantage of the beautiful weather for some marketing shots around campus.

📍 Chaminade High School | Mineola, NY

11/03/2024

Congratulations to Liam and Lauren who got engaged this past Saturday!

10/03/2024

“By the chrism of Confirmation, the faithful are given added strength to protect and defend the Church, their Mother, and the faith she has given them.”

Ven. Pope Pius XII
Mystici Corporis, 18

📍 | Rockville Centre, NY

10/03/2024

I have been photographing Confirmations and First Communions at The Cathedral of St. Agnes for several years now. It is always a pleasure to photograph these great sacraments at the Mother Church of the Diocese of Rockville Centre!

06/03/2024

Chaminade High School defeats St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School 66-49 at the Catholic High School Athletic Association championship at Hofstra University on March 5, 2024.

Photos shot for

01/02/2024

“In fulfilling their office as shepherd, pastors should take pains to know their own flock… Therefore, they should visit homes and schools to the extent that their pastoral work demands. They should lay especial attention to adolescents and youth.” Decree Concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church: Christus Dominus, 30

Bishop John O. Barres visits St. Patrick’s School in Huntington, New York for Catholic Schools Week in the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

📍 .patrickhuntington | Huntington, NY

22/01/2024

“The bishop is to be considered as the high priest of his flock, from whom the life in Christ of his faithful is in some way derived and dependent. Therefore all should hold in great esteem the liturgical life of the diocese centered around the bishop, especially in his cathedral church.” Sacrosanctum Concilium, 41

Bishop John O. Barres presides over Solemn Vespers at the Cathedral of St. Agnes in Rockville Centre, New York on January 21, 2024, the feast of St. Agnes, patroness of the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

📍

16/01/2024

Thanks to for taking our engagement photos!

20/12/2023

One year ago, I asked this incredible woman to be my girlfriend - best decision I have ever made 😬

You are my joy, I love you

06/12/2023

Relics - remains or objects of saints - are often a point of criticism for Catholicism as being “not-biblical” and therefore “not-Christian” - however, this is far from the truth.

As far back as Exodus and Joshua, we see references to relics when Moses took the bones of Joseph out of Egypt (Exodus 13:19) and when the Israelites later buried them in the promised land (Joshua 24:32).

In other areas of the Bible though, we see divine power being exercised through relics. In 2 Kings 2:14, Elisha uses Elijah’s cloak to split the Jordan. In Acts 5:15-16, the shadow of St. Peter heals the sick. In Acts 19:11-12, pieces of St. Paul’s clothing are brought to the sick to heal them. In Matthew 9:20-21, a woman with a hemorrhage touches the cloak of Christ and is thereby healed; Christ even praised this act (Matthew 9:21). Much more could be included if we noted the various divine deeds accomplished through Moses and Aaron with their staffs throughout Exodus and Numbers.

Why/how does this happen? Because the saints, as Christ says, are not dead but living like the angels (Mark 12:26-27), which is also seen in Revelation 4:4, 10. Since relics are connected with the living and heavenly saint, there is a life and heavenly dimension to them. The relic or saint doesn’t have the power; Christ has it, but chooses to act through them. This isn’t idolatry and is completely Biblical, as the entirety of salvation history consists of God working with and through men while making use of sensible signs (like the Incarnation itself).

To those who would say that relics are not Christian or biblical, I believe Christ would say to them: “Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?” (Mark 12:24)

📍 | Rockville Centre, NY

05/12/2023

Today I had the privilege and honor of photographing the veneration of the relic of the arm of St. Jude the Apostle - which is currently on tour in the U.S. as a loan from the Vatican - at St. Agnes Cathedral. I’ll be posting photos again soon with some theological points, but for now, thank you to the rector, , for this incredible opportunity!

📍 | Rockville Centre, NY

28/11/2023

Thank you to Fr. Eric Fasano for his support of my Catholic photography!

See more at nickcastelliphotocatholic.com/testimonials

26/11/2023

The best part of being a photographer is having a high quality camera for pictures with your girlfriend - i love you :)

23/11/2023

Thanks be to God!

📍 Seminary of the Immaculate Conception | Lloyd Harbor, NY

02/09/2023

Last week, diocesan vocations directors across the country gathered at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception for the NCDVD conference. Following vespers on Thursday, Aug. 31, they processed from the main chapel to the outdoor amphitheater to adore and worship our Lord in the Eucharist. God bless our priests!

📍 Seminary of the Immaculate Conception | Lloyd Harbor, NY

05/08/2023

Yesterday sponsored a Mass for Vocations and Priests on the Feast of St. John Vianney with a veneration of a first class relic. I’ve been blessed to get to know so many of the priests in our diocese through photography work - may St. John Vianney continue to intercede for them!

📍Church of the Cure of Ars | Merrick, NY

20/07/2023

Thanks to for having me update their seminarian headshots (not all pictured)!

Pray for our (God willing) future priests!

10/06/2023

Congratulations to our new priests! May God continue to bless them as they begin their ministries!

Thank you to the rector of St. Agnes Cathedral, Fr. Michael Duffy, for having me capture this day.

07/06/2023

Over the last couple days, I've been taking some marketing photos for St. Dominic High School before I finish my year there. I am thankful to St. Dominic for giving me my first opportunity in Catholic education and wish them all the best!

06/06/2023

In celebration of the month of the Sacred Heart, a banner proclaiming "God is Love" hangs from the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Agnes in Rockville Centre, NY.

The Cathedral of St. Agnes, Diocese of Rockville Centre

26/04/2023

14/02/2022

And so Jesus was taken down from the cross. O most holy Virgin, now that you have given your son to the world with such great love and for our salvation, behold, the world now gives him back to you. But, O God, what a condition he is in! “My beloved [was] white and ruddy” (Cant. 5:10), Mary says to the world, but you return him to me blackened with bruises and red from the wounds you inflicted on him. He was beautiful, but now he is no longer beautiful, but all disfigured. His appearance used to make people happy, but now he excites only horror in those who look on him. “Oh, how many swords,” says Saint Bonaventure, “pierced that poor mother’s soul” when she received the body of her son from the cross! Just think of the anguish it would cause any mother to receive in her arms the lifeless body of her tortured son.

…

His mouth was open, his eyes were dim. She examined his mangled flesh and his exposed bones. She took off the crown and gazed at the wounds the thorns had made in his brow. She saw the gaping holes in his hands and feet. Then she said to him: “O my Jesus, your love for men has brought you to this. What harm did you ever do them that they should treat you so cruelly? You were my father, my brother, my spouse, my delight, my glory. You were everything to me! O my dear son, see how desolate I am! Look at me and comfort me. But you can no longer look at me. Say only one word and comfort me. But you cannot speak any more, for you are dead. O cruel thorns, O cruel nails, O merciless spear, how could you possibly torture you Creator? But why do I speak of thorns and nails? It is you, O sinners, who have treated my son so cruelly!”

St. Alphonsus Liguori
from The Glories of Mary

📍 St. Ann R.C. Church | Washington, DC