BOSTON -- The jazz was hot, and the joint was jumping.

On the night of Feb. 18, a standing-room-only audience crowded into a dark basement on a narrow side street of Boston's North End to hear what was promoted as "the best clerical jazz fusion quartet west of the Tiber."

"Groaning, yelling, and moaning" during the concert was highly encouraged, the announcement said. Remaining motionless or silent was "completely prohibited." Violators would be thrown into the Charles River. The audience followed the rules, screaming and cheering for the four black-clad men jamming raucously on stage. One couple slow danced in the back of the room. Women shrieked in amazement as a drummer wearing a scally cap went into a frenetic solo that lasted several minutes. He drummed so quickly that it was hard to notice his Roman collar.

The group was Vatican III, a jazz fusion ensemble composed of Catholic priests: Father Patrick Fiorillo on drums, Father Matthew Laird on saxophone, Father Bryan Bangs on keyboard, and Father Matt Gill on bass guitar. Father Fiorillo is currently parochial vicar of St. Patrick Parish in Stoneham. His bandmates are from the Diocese of Fall River.

"It's a creative outlet for me," Father Fiorillo, 38, told The Pilot. "Being fully in tune to the spiritual life requires having a creative outlet in some way, and so this is one more thing to help me live a well-rounded and balanced life."

Next to polychrome statues of saints and against the backdrop of a Baroque fresco, Vatican III performed in the basement of St. Leonard of Port Maurice Parish to cap off a three-day celebration of artists, one of the groups being honored as part of the Jubilee Year of 2025. The walls of the parish hall were covered in paintings and drawings of biblical scenes. One painting in a graffiti style showed Christ holding a can of spray paint. Another showed him with a low wi-fi signal. There was a board in the parish hall on which guests could write what they are thankful to God for. Some wrote "My life," "Family," and "Friends." One person wrote "Vatican III."

"The whole Catholic life is becoming fully alive in Christ, and grace builds on nature," Father Fiorillo said. "And so that feeling of being fully alive actually begins in our ordinary human experiences. And playing jazz drums is one of those ways in which I sometimes feel alive, where I'm expressing myself in a unique way."

He said that the music "feeds" his priesthood and makes him feel free and that, to be good at jazz, you have to be free.

"There's a very clear parallel there to our own journey of conversion, growing in freedom to be able to do good," he said. "Same with music."

Father Fiorillo warmly greeted his fans before the concert.

"Hey, good to see you!" He said time and time again. "You made it. Oh, wow, super fan! I'm getting nervous now."

Every time he met someone he recognized, he told them he was nervous to perform in front of them. But he also said he enjoys being seen in a non-clerical setting and sharing his talents.

"I think they appreciate seeing me do something fun that I'm good at, and I enjoy being able to share that with others," he said.

Father Fiorillo was born and raised in Franklin, where he attended Mass weekly and started playing drums when he was 10 years old. At first, his interest was rock, not jazz. As a teenager, he played in garage bands with names like Fool Table, The Upstairs, and Cold Shot.

"Music was always the center of my life, really," he said. "In high school, playing in bands was basically my entire social life."

He studied music at the University of Hartford, where he first discovered jazz.

"It started growing on me more and more and more," he said. "And then we started playing a more specific style of jazz: funk and fusion. And that continued to expand my own musical horizons and my love for it all at the same time."

He is excited by the improvisation and spontaneity of jazz. His style of drumming is inspired by greats like Tony Williams and Billy Cobham.

"Every jazz performance is unique," he said. "You're not reading music, and you're not playing exactly the same notes. Every time, something unique is created in every performance."

College was also where he deepened his faith and started discerning a vocation.

"It was in that context that I started asking God deeper life questions like 'What is your plan for me?'" he said, adding that the "answer came pretty clearly" during his time in college.

Once he got his bachelor's in music, he entered St. John's Seminary in Brighton, where Vatican III was born.

"It very simply started with two guys jamming in the basement one day, me walking by, picking up a guitar, jamming with them," he said. "We didn't think anything else of it. We decided to get together again sometime and jam again."

The band had no interest in public performances, but that changed after they decided to entertain at a seminary social. The group's name was decided on by a "conciliar vote." Vatican III, a winking reference to a theoretical Third Vatican Council, was the winner.

"We thought, we will be the Third Vatican Council in music," he said. "So it's kind of an inside joke."

The members of Vatican III try to perform at their home parishes once a year.

"We're not trying to become famous or play at particular venues, but really just a way to bring our own respective communities together in a fun, social setting," he said.

Father Fiorillo had to go. The concert was about to start. The lights dimmed. Spectators turned on their cell phones. Father Fiorillo sat at his drum set and shouted: "Alright!"