Blessed Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster

Blessed Ildephonsus Schuster

Today is the feast day of Blessed Ildephonsus Schuster, OSB, Archbishop of Milan and a great liturgical scholar, who was invested a Bailiff of the Order of Malta in 1933.

In his writings, the Cardinal emphasized the cosmological importance of the Sacred Liturgy. Not just a earthly ceremony of ‘togetherness’, as some would have it, but rather “the very source of the holiness of the Church is wholly comprised in Her Liturgy, so that without the Divine Sacraments, the Passion of the Savior, in the present economy instituted by God, would not have any efficacy for us, due to the lack of instruments able to transmit its treasures to us.”

This is why we must have a great care for the solemn, careful and devout celebration of Holy Mass, the other Sacraments, and the Divine Office, for without these we will lack the grace we need to serve properly our Lords the Sick and the Poor, in whom we serve our Crucified and Risen Lord.

A few days before his death seventy years ago, Cardinal Schuster bade farewell to his seminarians: “You want something to remember me by,” he said. “All I can leave you is an invitation to holiness.”

Blessed Ildephonsus – pray for us.

Bl. Ildefonso Schuster

Today is the liturgical memorial of Blessed Ildefonso Schuster of Milan who died in 1954. Schuster is the celebrated monk, abbot, bishop and liturgical scholar. He led the Diocese of Milan for 25 years.

Among his works on the sacred Liturgy, Schuster became known for his Liber Sacramentorum, later translated into English as The Sacramentary. The value of the multivolume work is that it takes you through the liturgical theology of each Sunday of the year.

When his tomb was opened in 1985, his mortal remains were found to be intact; he was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1996. You may be interested to know that the miracle for Cardinal Ildefonso’s sainthood cause was the curing of glaucoma.

Let’s pray for Blessed Ildefonso Schuster’s intercession.

Monastic Worship Forum launched

Periodically the Benedictine monks, nuns and sisters meet to discuss issues pertaining the sacred Liturgy and sacred music as done in their monasteries. They met two weeks ago at the Archabbey of Saint Meinrad for the meeting and decided to formally merge the liturgical and musicians’ groups into one: The Monastic Worship Forum. This work has been in process since 2009. The purpose of the Forum is to provide support, education, and formation in the sacred Liturgy for monastic contexts in order that God maybe glorified.

Benedictine monk Father Godfrey Mullen chairs the committee that will lead the Forum. Father Godfrey earned his doctorate in Liturgy from the Catholic University of America and serves as the VP for Saint Meinrad Seminary and the Archabbey’s director of Liturgy.

The new website can be found here.

Blessed Ildefonso Schuster, and all Benedictine saints and blesseds, pray for us.

Blessed Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster

Almighty God, through Your grace, Blessed Alfredo Ildefonso, by his exemplary virtue built up the flock entrusted to him. Grant that we, under the guidance of the Gospel, may follow his teaching and walk in sureness of life, until we come to see You face to face in Your eternal kingdom.

Alfredo Ludovico Luigi Schuster was born in Rome of Bavarian immigrants on January 18, 1880. At 11 years old he entered the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Paul outside the Walls taking the name Ildefonso in 1896; he professed solemn vows in 1902. Philosophy studies was done at Sant’Anselmo and theology was studied at Saint Paul’s where he was ordained a priest on March 19, 1904.

Service to the monastic way of life, besides the daily opus Dei (the praying of the Divine Office), included scholarship, novice master for 8 years, prior of the for 2 years, procurator of the Cassinese Congregation of the Benedictine monks for 12 years and abbot-ordinary of Saint Paul outside the Walls from 1918 until 1929. He was President of the Pontifical Oriental Institute from 1919 to 1922.

On June 26, 1929, Pope Pius XI nominated him the Archbishop of Milan and a few weeks later created him a cardinal on July 15. In 1933, the Order of Malta honored Schuster with the Grand Cross for his service to the Church.

Cardinal Schuster died of natural causes on August 30, 1954. In 1957, Cardinal Giovanni Montini –later Pope Paul VI– introduced Schuster’s cause for canonization. It is said that upon opening Schuster tomb on January 28, 1985, his was incorrrupt; he beatied on May 12, 1996 by Pope John Paul II.

Days before Blessed Ildefonso died he said: “You want something to remember be by. All I can leave you is an invitation to holiness….”

Blessed Idelfonso Schuster, monk, bishop, scholar: 129th birthday

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.