joseph cistone was born in philadelphia, pennsylvania, to daniel a. and josephine r. (née altomare) cistone, sr. one of three children, he has two brothers, daniel and anthony. he attended our lady of consolation school and graduated from father judge high school in 1967. he then studied at st. charles borromeo seminary, from where he obtained a bachelor's degree in philosophy (1971) and master's in divinity (1975).