Timothy Crellin

The Land of the Living grows out of the author's fascination with his Sicilian heritage, on his mother's side. Crellin studied Italian and lived in Bologna for a year. He has Italian citizenship, speaks fluent Italian, and visits his family in Sicily as often as possible. The other taproot of the book is Tim's deep study of war in the 20th century, and particularly the generational impact of World War I, World War II and Vietnam on immigrant families.

Crellin is an Episcopal priest, raised in the Boston area and educated at Brown University and Harvard Divinity School before being ordained in 1996.

Tim was Vicar of St. Stephen’s Church in Boston from 1999 to 2022, and was the founder of St. Stephen’s Youth Programs. Previously he was Associate Rector of the Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill.

Under Tim’s leadership, the B-SAFE summer academic enrichment program which he started in the summer of 2000, expanded to serve more than 650 youth at locations in the South End, Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan and Chelsea. More than 250 young people attended daily after school programs operated by St. Stephen’s Youth Programs and locations in the South End and Roxbury.

Over the course of more than twenty years, Tim and his staff developed a unique partnership program with a network of more than fifty suburban churches and 1,000 volunteers who support the programs, serving as tutors and mentors. This network also supports a partnership with the Blackstone School, with volunteers assisting in every classroom and staffing the school library. Tim is also a founder of the B-PEACE Campaign, an anti-violence effort founded after the death of long-time member of the St. Stephen’s community.

In addition to being Rector of St. Paul's Church in Gardner and Dean of the Wachusett Valley Deanery, Tim is a chaplain with a local hospice provider. He serves on the Ethics Committee at Heywood Hospital in Gardner, and on the Beloved Community Commission of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts.

Tim is an avid gardener, runner, reader, and Boston sports fan. He and his wife Jenny climb Mt. Monadnock at least once a week, occasionally with their adult son, Adam.