Behold a great priest, who in his days pleased Godm and was found just.
O God, Who did give Thy people blessed Idelfonso as a minister of eternal salvation, we beseech Thee; grant that we may deserve to have him as an intercessor in heaven, whom we had as a teacher of life on earth.
A brief sketch:
- Born 18 January 1880 at Rome, Italy: known in history as Alfredo Ludovico Luigi Schuster;
- Educated at Saint-Paul-Outside-the-Walls and then entered the novitiate there in 1896 taking the name Ildefonso and professing solemn vows on 13 November 1890;
- Ordained a priest in 1904; he was novice master, prior and procurator for the Cassinese Congregation of Benedictine monks before being elected Abbot-Nullius of his abbey on 6 April 1918;
- He was devoted scholarship and teaching and appointed president of the Pontifical Oriental Institute from 1919 to 1922. His Liber sacramentorum, Historical and Liturgical Notes on the Roman Missal is well known and used for liturgical history and theology studies;
- Pope Pius XI nominated Abbot Idelfonso Schuster the Archbishop of Milan on 26 July 1926 and was made a cardinal in 1929;
- Died 30 August 1954 at Venegono, Italy of natural causes;
- Beatified 12 May 1996 by Pope John Paul II and with the liturgical memorial on 30 August.
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