Fr. David Mariano Vidal is the Pastor of Ave Maria Parish and a priest of the Diocese of Venice in Florida.

In 1993 Fr. Vidal began studies for the priesthood and was ordained on August 9, 2001, in La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.  After some years of missionary work in the United States, he entered the graduate program in the School of Philosophy of The Catholic University of America, receiving the Licentiate degree in Philosophy in 2012 with a thesis on “Nature and Suppositum in the Metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas” under the direction of Msgr. John F. Wippel. He received the Doctor of Philosophy degree from Catholic University in 2020, with a dissertation on “Res as Transcendental in the Metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas” under the guidance of Dr. Gregory T. Doolan.  Fr. Vidal was a lecturer at Saint John Vianney College Seminary in Miami from 2018 to 2022 and has been an adjunct professor in the Philosophy Department at Ave Maria University since 2023.

As a priest of the Diocese of Venice, Father Vidal came to Ave Maria Parish in August 2017 as Parochial Vicar;  he was appointed Administrator of Our Lady Queen of Heaven Parish, LaBelle, in May 2018 and returned to Ave Maria Parish in 2021 as Pastor.  Fr. Vidal frequently celebrates daily Mass and hears confessions at Donahue Academy and serves as an ex-officio member of Donahue’s Advisory Board, guiding the school in close collaboration with the Principal.

Fr. Vidal comes from a large family of seven siblings. Two of his brothers are missionary priests and three of his sisters are nuns.