Frank C. Muzzi regards his elevation to the rank of Commander in the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre as “very significant. It gives you a deep and abiding faith.”

Muzzi lives with his wife, Marianne, in Oakhurst, and has three daughters and five grandchildren. He graduated from Thomas Edison State University, Trenton, with a bachelor of science degree and is retired from a career as an executive and corporate officer of a defense contractor.

In the civic arena, Muzzi has served on the Board of Education and Planning Board in Long Branch, as well as the city’s business administrator. He is a member of the Governor’s Council on Armed Forces and Veterans’ Affairs, and the Commission to Support and Enhance New Jersey Military and Coast Guard Installations.

As a member of Christ the King Parish, Muzzi serves the Long Branch faith community as extraordinary minister of the Holy Eucharist and active member in the Holy Name Society, finance council, pastoral council and the St. Vincent de Paul Society. He has served as business manager in the parish for the past nine years, and also served on the diocesan cemetery commission.

“The order does so many charitable things,” Muzzi noted about the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. “They are strong supporters of Jerusalem, where only one percent of the population is still Christian. I take [membership] seriously.”

Muzzi had first been nominated for induction in the Order in 2015 by Father Daniel Peirano. Father Peirano, once pastor of Nativity Parish, Fair Haven, who now studies at Gregorian University in Rome, also nominated him for the elevation in rank.

Muzzi’s participation in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem’s Holy Land pilgrimage with some 30 fellow Knights this past March deeply impacted his faith and reinforced his views on the importance of the order’s philanthropic outreach.

“The pilgrimage became the fifth Gospel to me,” he recalled. “The Gospels truly came alive for us as we visited the sacred places and prayed at the Masses and received the Eucharist. The visits to the children’s school [where nuns cared for the deaf] and the University of Bethlehem afforded us an opportunity to see first-hand the importance of our Order’s prayers and financial support to the needy in the Holy Land.”

Muzzi continued, “It becomes a part of you, you think about it during your daily prayers. We get a quarterly report, but seeing it all made it come alive.”

Muzzi cherishes the Pilgrim’s Shell he received following the journey, calling it “a great honor.” The most significant decoration of the Order, it is awarded to Knights and Ladies of who have made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and prayed at the Holy Sepulchre of the Risen Lord. “Not only will it be a reminder of our wonderful pilgrimage to the Holy Land, it will also be a reminder to me to faithfully carry out the solemn promises I made when I was invested,” he said.