The parish of St. Agnes is well known for their ability to celebrate a worthy Mass using Mozart's Requiem setting. I've been to St. Agnes for their annual All Souls' Day Mass - twice. And I was at the Requiem Mass for the Holy Father John Paul II after his death. Tonight, however, was the most memorable one yet. Tonight, I was there to pray for, and for the prayers of, Msgr. Richard Schuler. And so were a LOT of other people!
I got there an hour early, and already the crowds were pouring into the nave. I managed to snag a decent center pew about 2/3 of the way back, and also managed to find a couple of friends amidst the chaos of mourners arriving. The church was full well before 7pm, I think a lot of people were standing. According to the
St. Agnes website, the church holds 1,500 people - wow! What a tribute to this man's holiness!
I don't know why, but I was frankly surprised to see the huge number of priests who turned up to concelebrate. We didn't try to count them, but we all agreed (including the priest we talked to afterwards) that there was well over 100 priests there to pay tribute to Msgr. Schuler's life and to pray for the repose of his soul. And most of these priests were young ones, associate pastors, or older retired priests. Think of how many more priests would have come except as pastors they had other responsibilities! I bet we're talking at least a 1/3 of the priests of the Archdiocese either were there or wanted to be there, to honor Msgr. Schuler. Even Archbishop Flynn was there, though he had to change the Confirmation schedule to do so (I think Bishop Pates got the duty instead, God bless the man :) and he was in choir, not concelebrating (not sure why?). Fun to see him all decked out though in choir dress! And very cool to hear him speak "on behalf of Bishop Pates and now-Archbishop Nienstedt"! (Very interesting how Msgr.'s funeral and the announcement of our new coadjutor bishop coincided!... hmmmm. ;)
Fr. Richard Hogan was the main celebrant, he is well known to many through his works in text (with Fr. LeVoir) and on EWTN on JPII's Theology of the Body. I had no idea that he was also Msgr. Schuler's nephew, and had his own vocation influenced by that great encourager of priestly discernment. You know, we will only know in heaven the real impact that Msgr. Schuler had on the Catholic Church locally and globally. Between his constant efforts to aid the universal Church in the organic growth of the liturgy and sacred music post-Vatican II and his constant efforts to foster holy vocations, which produced such a marvelous group of priests that I can't even begin to name them all (though I wish the vocations office would try - it would be really neat to do a survey/study to see how many priests point to Msgr. Schuler in some way as aiding their discernment of their call), I find it very hard to imagine what life here would be like now without the gift of that man's life to the Church. We might be an entire Archdiocese (or world!) of St. Joan of Arcs, instead of a (fairly) balanced grouping of (mostly) good, honest, orthodox faithful at (many) good parishes. Think I'm exaggerating? Take a look at that man's history and think again.
I always get shudders when I hear Mozart's Requiem Sequence ("Dies irae..."), this time was no exception. But, this time I suddenly had the impression that this Sequence was REALLY HAPPENING. I can't really explain it. I guess in the past times, even the Mass for John Paul II, I wasn't really there because it was a
funeral Mass but more because it was a beautiful Mass that helped me to pray better (I hate to admit that... On the other hand, I did actually cry at the Mass for John Paul, and I didn't cry tonight. So... perhaps it's apples and oranges.) But tonight, there was a real body lying in a casket towards the front of the church. There were tons of priests. There was an honor guard of Knights of Columbus. I was surrounded by tons of people who, while they might have gotten started going to St. Agnes because of the beautiful liturgy, were now here because they knew the man for whom the Mass was being offered for and they wanted to offer it for him too in their own personal way. So when that booming
Dies irae began, my shivers were for the REALNESS of it all, the literal meaning of those words, that were not just gorgeous to listen to but also speak to the depths of our heart. Death comes. And here we were praying for one such as Msgr. Schuler, as we prayed for such a one as Pope John Paul II. And I can be complacent about my own death, or take a cue from the masters. The
Dies irae, I finally realize, is not so much for the one who has died, as it is for those of us who are still in the process of dying. And though that may seem to be a morbid, sorrowful thought - it is actually one of the most comforting thoughts I have ever had. We are dying. I am dying. Vita e Bella! Life is beautiful! And our death is meant to be merely a transition from life to life, from a beautiful life to THE beautiful life!
(
Here is the complete text of the Dies Irae in Latin and English.)
(And, a fitting tribute to Msgr. Schuler might be to buy one of these totally POD
Dies irae wall clocks from the CMAA, one of Msgr. Schuler's many sacred music apostolates!)
At the time of Holy Communion (which took forever and a day, seems like, because of all those concelebrating priests that needed to receive :) I suddenly had the thought to grab my trusty rosary beads and bring them up with me. As I walked past the good Msgr.'s casket, I paused briefly to touch my rosary to his "tomb" - guess that's a relic now, if he is indeed a saint (declared or not). I've decided that while I will continue to pray for his soul, and not let myself be TOO presumptuous, I also want to ask him to be a patron for the future of my parish, especially since it is going through a crucial time of "long range planning" now. I don't think I'm alone either (though I hope my parish and I are early enough to be higher on the list ;) and I would venture to suggest that, just maybe, there will be a lot of unforeseen "changes" happening for the better in many of our area parishes, due to the intercession of our new (hopefully - pray God) heavenly prayer warrior for all that is true, good and beautiful in our churches!
Oh, and I'm quite happy to report that at long last I have met the man behind the
o{]:¬) - and I sure hope he posts himself on the Mass tonight...
In paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.
May angels lead you into Paradise; may the martyrs receive you at your coming and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem. May a choir of angels receive you, and with Lazarus, who once was poor, may you have eternal rest.
![[SMMMHDH]](http://www.mgilleland.com/music/smmmhdh.png){kind=small}
