Msgr. Ferdinando Berardi, the pastor of Blessed Sacrament R.C. Church in West Brighton, has died. He was 71. “It is with a very heavy heart that I share with our parish family that Msgr. Ferdinando Berardi died peacefully in his sleep,’' the Rev. Frank Lanzaderas wrote in an email to parishioners on Tuesday.

“Please keep his family and our parish in your prayers as we begin to mourn this great loss. When arrangements for the wake and funeral Masses have been set, we will send this word to everyone.” Monsignor Berardi was born in Bari, Italy, on Sept. 18, 1950, and came to the United States in 1958 with his family, moving to Staten Island.