Fr. Mark Haydu started his journey in Akron, OH, being born the sixth child and fourth boy on July 15, 1972. As an active member of the charismatic renewal during high school, Fr Mark went to the Franciscan University of Steubenville, followed by a year of missionary work in Antigua, Guatemala, and Reynosa, Mexico. He entered the novitiate in Cheshire, CT, in 1993 and finished his Humanities degree there in 1996, where he first began to fall in love with Art and History.

After two years of philosophical studies in Rome, he completed four years of apostolic internships in Salamanca, Spain, Dublin, Ireland, and Cheshire, CT. Fr. Mark returned to Rome to get a licentiate degree in Philosophy with a thesis on moral legislation. He then began his Theology studies in 2004, until he was ordained a priest on December 22, 2007. That same year, in October, Fr. Mark became the Director of the Patrons of the Arts of the Vatican Museums, a position he held until June 15, 2015. During that time, Fr. Mark finished a License in Moral Theology focused on the effects of cohabitation on marital happiness and perseverance.

He also published two award-winning art books in the Meditations on Vatican Art series. Fr. Mark enjoyed being a spiritual director for the Legionary seminarians and Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi while in Rome. In 2016, he returned to the States, stationed at the Legionary community in Rye, NY, working as the National Chaplain of the Lumen Institute. He also served as Chief Development Officer for the Legionaries of Christ’s North American Territory. Fr. Mark is currently a local chaplain for Lumen and a territorial councilor for the Legionaries of Christ in the North American Territory. Aside from his prayer and religious life, he enjoys golf, playing guitar, reading, and writing.