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Charles Roman Joseph Koester

By Edward L. Bode1

Yogi Berra’s colorful comments went “viral on the Internet” after his death 22 September 2015.

Yogi Berra: Autographed 1960 Baseball Card

[signed: To John, Best Wishes, Y Berra; Charles Koester request for my son]

Neither “viral” nor widely known is the influence of a Catholic bishop, a native of Jefferson City on Yogi’s

baseball career.

The Most Rev. Charles Koester (1915 – 1997) was the first person from the Capitol City to study for the

priesthood at The North American College [NAC] in Rome, Italy. He arrived there in 1936 and completed two

years of philosophy and two years of theology. The college closed in 1940 because of World War II. Charles

had previously completed high school [seminary] at Conception Abbey, MO, and two years of college at St.

Louis Preparatory Seminary.

Charles Roman Koester, son of John Frederich Koester and Anna Helen Schwaller, was born 15 September

1915.

Father Joseph Selinger, D.D., pastor of St. Peter Church, Jefferson City, baptized “Charles Roman Joseph” 17

September 1915. Godparents were Sarah Margaretha Schwaller [aunt] and Joseph Koester [uncle, living in

Colorado] by Roman Schwaller [grandfather].

1. Copyright 6 August 2017. For permission to copy or transmit in any format, contact the author: edobed@embarqmail.com.

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Father Selinger had graduated from NAC in 1887.2

This advertisment appeared in the 1915 Directory of Osage County, 10 miles east of Jefferson

City. Charles’ father, John, published a German newspaper, Missouri Volksfreund (Peoples-Friend) in

Jeffeson City.

The ad explains that John published the weekly with large and clear type for $1 a year. The German text

says that everyone who reads German should have his own newspaper. Whoever wants to buy or sell a

farm should read the Volksfreund. More than 1,000 persons in 10 towns of the county subscribe. Write

to obtain some free sample copies of the paper.

When the German language ceased to be popular, he published an English language newspaper which he

sold in 1927 to the predecessors of the current Jefferson City News Tribune.

Charles received the Sacrament of Confirmation with the name Anthony from Archbishop [later Cardinal] John

J. Glennon of St. Louis in St. Peter Church, Jefferson City, 18 April 1926. Cletus, an older brother of Charles,

was sponsor.

2. Msgr. Selinger (1857-1938), the 235th student to enter NAC, 14 October 1883, was ordained a priest in St. John Lateran Basilica,

Rome, 4 June 1887. In Rome, 1909, he attended the Golden Jubilee celebration of NAC, which serves seminarians for bishops of the

United States.

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Charles, age 26, was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of St. Louis by Archbishop John J. Glennon in the

Cathedral of St. Louis, 20 December 1941 -- 13 days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Ordination Photo

First Solemn Mass 23 December 1941, entering St. Peter Church, Jefferson City

Mass ministers [L to R]: Father Bruemmer, Msgr. Vogelweid, Father Koester, Father Schuermann]

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Father Koester spoke “Italiano.” His first assignment of six years was as associate pastor of St. Ambrose Parish

on the “Italian Hill” in St. Louis. Charles, standing outside church after Sunday Masses, became acquainted

with the Milanese families residing there. That practice continued for many years of his priesthood.

While a curate at St. Ambrose, Father became well acquainted with the Peter Berra family. Teenage son, Yogi,

contacted Father to ask him to visit his parents at home. Yogi wanted to become a professional baseball player

but his parents objected. Father visited the Berra household and convinced the parents to allow Yogi become a

professional.

Would anyone else have been able to convince the Berras? We will never know. As is said, the rest is history.

Father Koester was well known as a friend of baseball’s Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola [died 2016] of the

“Italian Hill” and later Tom LaSorda. Father helped the parish boys’ youth club start “The Crusader Clarion,”

which brought news throughout World War II to parish homes and service posts around the world where area

people served in the Armed Forces. The newspaper, first mimeographed in November 1942, became a monthly

mailed to 1,200 addresses. Private donations supported the paper. The final edition of The Clarion, widely-

known as “Father Koester’s Paper,” was sent to 2,150 in December 1950 at the time of his transfer to St.

Liborius Parish in north St. Louis. The pastor there, Father Aloysius Ripper, later served in the Jefferson City

Diocese.

Yogi Berra spoke at the St. Ambrose farewell for Father Koester.

Father Charles also brought to Catholic parishes in St. Louis his interest in soccer, to which he had been

introduced at NAC. His influence continues in the Catholic Youth Conference (CYC) annual Bishop Koester

Soccer Tournament.

Charles, in conversations, recalled that he began to think about the priesthood when in the sixth grade at St.

Peter School. He detailed his student days in Rome under the rule of Benito Mussolini, the Italian “Duce.”

Students began to notice that when they used “Duce” during their walks, they were often followed by an Italian.

The students remedied the situation by agreeing to always refer to Mussolini as “Mr. Smith.” Italians ceased

following. Incidentally, the U. S. Catholic politician, Al Smith, visited the college in 1937.

Father Charles served as a parish priest in seven St. Louis parishes, taught religion at a Catholic grade school

and high school. Also, he was a member of the Archdiocesan Council of Priests for three years, a judge in the

diocesan tribunal, and served on the archdiocesan school board.

On 11 February 1971, Pope Paul VI named Charles Roman Koester, age 55, auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis and

titular Bishop of Suacia.3 Archbishop [later Cardinal] John J. Carberry at the Mass of Consecration in St. Louis

Cathedral, remarked, “Bishop Koester brings to the office of bishop outstanding qualities of mind and heart, but

especially a vast pastoral experience which has given him insight and understanding of the problems of today.”

The Mass marked the first use of the English liturgy for a bishop’s consecration. Other NAC alumni at the

Mass included: Cardinal John Cody, Bishop Glennon Flavin, Bishop Lawrence Graves, and Msgr. Gerold

Kaiser [classmate]. At the luncheon honoring the new Bishop, Archbishop Carberry joined the professional

music quartet and was introduced as “the most expensive violin player you’ve ever heard.” Amid applause, the

prelate fiddled spirited renditions of “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” and “Toor-a-loora-loora.”

3. Suacia is Latin for a diocese in the Upper Dalmatia region, municipality Dolcea, Montenegro. Local historical spellings are: Svac

and Sas. The diocese, founded in the eleventh century, was suppressed in 1530. Titular bishops have been named to the restored

diocese since 1933.

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Bishop Koester commented to The St. Louis Review, archdiocesan newspaper, that his appointment came as “a

complete shot out of the blue. … The care of souls is still the most important thing in the world, and my outlook

will always be a pastor’s outlook for souls. And always my first concern in parish work has been in working

with the people themselves. …My main concern today is for the unity of the church. As best as possible we

need to be working together, as priests, religious and laity. To do this we need a great concern for one another

and understanding of one another. …There is much confusion and bewilderment among some people, and even

more unfortunately there is some bitterness. We must try to calm people’s fears, and you cannot do that just by

talking from the pulpit; you have to get out and be with them wherever they are -- whether it’s at a wedding

reception or a funeral parlor or any other place people gather.”

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Bishop Charles Roman Koester, 11 February 1971

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Commemorative Card: Mass of Consecration

Quotations on reverse:

“Let the bishop be a good Shepherd who knows his sheep and whose sheep know him.”

(Vatican Council II).

“Be a vessel for noble use, consecrated and useful, ready for any good work.”

(2 Timothy 2:21)

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Coat of Arms

The bishop’s coat of arms includes a silver six-pointed star and a red heart on a silver base to recall

Westfalen, the German region from which the Koester family emigrated. On both sides of the star a

cross recalls the family name of his mother, Anna Helen Schwaller, daughter of Roman Schwaller

(1833-1920). A Schwaller family coat of arms was originally established in Soluthurn, Switzerland,

about 30 miles from the Alsatian village of Lautenbach-Zell, from which the Roman Schwaller family

emigrated.

The two fleur-de-lis on each side of the heart honor St. Louis, king of France, and St. Joan d’Arc, of

Orleans, patron of the church where Bishop Koester is pastor. Behind the heart, two quill pens in the

form of a Greek Chi4 recall the bishop’s father, a newspaper publisher in Jefferson City; there two of his

brothers worked in journalism.

The wavy line horizontally dividing the shield symbolizes the Missouri River (location of Jefferson

City) and the Mississippi (location of St. Louis).

The motto suggests the program of a Successor of the Apostles in accord with instructions of Vatican

Council II.

The external ornaments are heraldic insignia of a bishop.

4. Greek letter [X], Chi, first letter of Ch-rist. An ancient Greek symbol for Christ is the first two letters of the name: the Greek Chi

[X] and Ro [P]. The XP symbol still appears in many liturgical usages.

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On 28 March 1971, the new bishop celebrated Mass followed by a reception and a dinner in his native parish of

St. Peter in Jefferson City.

During his first pastoral visit to archdiocesan missions in Bolivia, Bishop Koester received a crosier hand-

carved by an Aymaran Indian. The wooden crosier measuring six feet in length, is displayed in the Church of

St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, St, Louis. A nearby metal card explains the exhibit. That church was the

final pastoral assignment of the bishop before his retirement.5

5. Information about the location comes from the parish with photos courtesy of Mrs. Stella Clifford.

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The rounded crook, about eleven inches in height, contains images of significance in the life of the carver. In

the center is the Chi-Ro: Christ was the center of his life.

The figures in the circle [starting left] are the artist, his spouse, their llama, a fish in a net, and a boat. The fish

and boat indicate his occupation.

At Confirmations, the bishop would draw attention to the crosier to explain that Christ must be the center of life

for every person.

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The bishop continued his apostolate while pastor of three St. Louis parishes.

When visiting family in Jefferson City, Bishop Charles often celebrated Mass at the Carmelite Sisters

Monastery. He sometimes visited the State Penitentiary to find friends of parishioners.

In 1974, the Bishop spoke at the centennial celebration for the missionary of central Missouri, Father Ferdinand

Helias, S.J..

The bishop served as a board member of the St. Vincent Pallotti Center and Catholic Charities, which promotes

lay volunteers working for the needs of the needy.

On the fortieth anniversary of his priestly ordination in 1982, Bishop Koester with 12 classmates of the 1941

ordination-class visited Rome to concelebrate Mass with Pope John Paul II and later to greet the now-canonized

pope in St. Peter Square.

In 1989, the bishop led a nine-day Catholic pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In 1990, age 75 and 18 years a

bishop, Bishop Koester retired from St. John Apostle and Evangelist Parish to Regina Cleri, home in St. Louis

for retired priests of the archdiocese. He lived there until hospitalized a few months before his death.

At 82 years of age, Charles Koester died 24 December 1997.

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Wake services, took place in St. Ambrose Church, 1 and 2 January 1998. Archbishop [later Cardinal] Justin

Rigali6 celebrated an evening funeral Mass in St. Louis Cathedral, 2 January.

Archbishop Rigali in his homily remarked:

“As we commend his soul to God, we evoke the memory of a man of God, a Pastor with a sense of the people,

fiercely devoted to his flock, a man who was the object of fierce and abiding loyalty from so many

parishioners….

“How much Bishop Koester belonged to the people, how much he loved the sick and how faithfully he

ministered to them. On one of my visits to see him in the hospital, he thanked me for coming. I replied that the

Archdiocese was trying to show some of the great solicitude that he had shown over the years to others, in the

name of the merciful and healing Christ.

“His presence in the midst of the people of God recalled the pastoral role of every parish priest, so eloquently

presented by the Second Vatican Council, ‘Priests have been placed in the midst of the laity to lead them to the

unity of charity, that they may ‘love one another with fraternal charity.’ This ideal would be crystallized in his

episcopal motto. ‘Charity, Fraternity, Unity’ – a program to which he gave himself with total dedication for all

the years of his episcopacy.

“His role as a bishop, sharing the fullness of the priesthood, could be summarized with profound pastoral

simplicity as expressed by the Second Vatican Council, ‘In the Bishop…our Lord Jesus Christ, the Supreme

High Priest, is present in the midst of those who believe.’ Bishop Koester never asked for any higher dignity

than to make Jesus Christ present in the midst of His people. It was enough for him, it was everything for him

to represent the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the flock and who could say: ‘I know mine and mine

know me.’….

“As we watched Bishop Koester in these his final years, it was clear to all of us that God had called him to share

intimately through Christian suffering in Christ’s own passion and death. At times the degree of this suffering

was, humanly speaking, unbearable. Yet God was faithful. And all along, Christ was present to Bishop Koester

and was speaking to him in the words of our Gospel today: “Come to me, all you who are weary and find life

burdensome, and I will refresh you. The hour has finally come to see the full truth of these words. God is

faithful!....

“We are profoundly grateful for all that the Lord Jesus has accomplished in you and through you during the

many years that you served as Priest and Bishop in this local Church of St. Louis…..

“We are grateful to you for your pastoral zeal, for the love that you showed to so many of your brothers and

sisters, for the way you shared their lives, their hopes and sufferings, their joys and their aspirations. We are

grateful for the way that you proclaimed the Gospel by word and example, for the way you taught people about

the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. We are grateful for the special interest that you showed in the young

people and how you were close to them and to the families to whom you ministered. We are grateful for the

faith that you exemplified in your daily life and that sustained you through long years of trial and suffering. We

are grateful for the hope that the Holy Spirit inspired in your heart and which accompanied you to the end. We

are grateful for the charity, fraternity and unity which you so zealously endeavored to promote in so many ways

and throughout so many years.

“We are grateful, likewise, to all those who assisted you throughout your ill health and your protracted

suffering: the doctors, nurses, health-care givers, your faithful friends, especially at Regina Cleri and Mother of

Good Counsel Home, and in particular your friend Charlie, who was with you in the hospital all the time, and 6. Cardinal Rigali [NAC] provided the text of his homily; see page 22 for the complete text.

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all those who generously sought to show you in return the love that they had experienced as coming from your

own pastoral heart.

“We are grateful as a local Church, as your friends, as those who have benefited from your ministry, for all the

special graces that have come to you during your life, during your priesthood and during your episcopacy

through the intercession of our Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom we entrust you at this moment and to whom we

commend your priestly heritage and your holy memory as a loving shepherd in our midst…..

“Bishop Koester was unfailing in his love for the Church, his pastoral zeal, his true devotion to our Blessed

Mother, his warm sense of humor, and his love for all people, particularly the sick, the dying, and the

bereaved.”

The archbishop’s mention of “friend Charlie” refers to Charles “Black” Ferrario, who died 15 March 2016 in his

mid-nineties while still a parishioner of St. Ambrose. His body was buried in Resurrection Cemetery.

Charlie became well-known chauffeuring Father/Bishop Charles. Charlie remembered his friend as a

sports-enthusiast. At the baseball stadium of the Cardinals, they received a friendly reception and usually

special box-seats. When driving to Notre Dame, they left before completion of football games so as to return to

St. Louis before midnight. Charlie also remembers well the priest’s endeavors to “keep alive” the Crusader

Club, parish youth group, in the nineteen-forties. Charlie, whose memories of “so long ago” lack some details,

summarized, “Charles was a “jolly, good man.”

Amen.

Bishop Charles’ body was the first interred in the archdiocesan plots for clergy in Resurrection Cemetery, St.

Louis, 3 January 1998.

Bishop Charles in his two-page Last Will and Testament of 10 February 1972 bequeathed his “episcopal

accoutrements (rings, pectoral crosses, etc) to the Archdiocese of St. Louis.” Monetary bequests were $200 to

the archdiocesan Propagation of The Faith, “for stipends or alms for Masses for the repose of my soul,” and

$20,000 to St. Joan of Arc Parish, where he had served as pastor. All the “rest, residue and remainder of my

estate, real, personal and mixed” went to the Archdiocese.

Charles Roman Joseph Koester was a devoted priest for 49 years.

“Good Shepherd Of The People And For The People”

would be his worthy and well-deserved priestly memento.

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When a seminarian in Rome, Charles sent home a collection of more than a hundred photos taken in

Rome, Italy, France and Switzerland.

Here are samples, courtesy of the Koester family:

29 Oct 1936 Charles on board the Italian Lines SS Rex. The ship, built in 1931, and its sister ship

“Conte di Savoia,” were called “the Riviera afloat.” In 1933, the Rex set the fastest western crossing in 4 days,

13 hours, average speed of 28.92 knots. During World War II, the ship was docked and then moved to Trieste

to avoid being commandeered by the Germans. On 8 September 1944, the ship was attacked by the Royal Air

Force, set on fire and sunk south of Trieste. Yugoslavia claimed the ship since it sank in its waters. The remains

were scavenged for scrap in the 1950s.

24 October 1936 The Italian Lines SS Rex

Views: Aft Forward

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9 May 1937 Benito Mussolini on balcony of Palazzo Venezia in central Rome.

The banner on the balcony imitates the traditional style of the popes; cheering fans raise arms in the

Fascist salute, later adopted by Hitler’s Nazis. Italian moviemakers invented the salute in movies about

ancient Rome; the salute did not exist at that time.

In response to Mussolini’s customary greeting in Italian of “For whom?”, citizens made the Fascist

salute while shouting “For Us!”

1938 Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (right, with cap), later Pope Pius XII

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Easter blessings from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica:

[left ]1937 Pope Pius XI (estimated 150,000 attended) 1940 Pope Pius XII

28 May 1937 Father [later Archbishop] Fulton John Sheen on steps of Santa Susanna, church

designated for Americans, Rome

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Charles Koester in his seminary room on Humility Street, central Rome

1937 Summer Villa [Santa Catharina], North American College, Castelgondolfo, near Rome

Chapel Front Recreation Building

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Vintage Car in Rome, student Charles

6 February 1940 Terminillo, Apennine Mountains near Rome, Charles

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Ox cart near Rome, Koester [left], Robert Howal [center], Gerold Kaiser [right]

30 March 1937 Genazzano near Rome, Charles

Note the community water fountain, and copper water pots.

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August 1938 Charles’ Tour de France

Cycle trip of France with a fellow NAC seminarian started in Nice.

Pictures from the trip include Monte Carlo, Marseilles, Lourdes, Carcassonne, Lisieux,

Fontaindbleau, Chambord, Rouen, Arles, Paray-le Monial, Soissons, and Paris.

The trip covered more than 2,100 miles. They used the bicycles when visiting large cities.

One photo shows them about 30 miles south of Paris.

How much public transportation may have been used between large cities is unknown.

The pictured long black stockings and shoes:

In Rome, they were worn with pants reaching below the knees -- usual dress

under the NAC black cassock with red shash, white collar, and blue trimming.7

7 Usual NAC apparel appears on pages 18, 19, (with ankle-length sleeve-less cloak), 20 (with cloak and warm, full cape.

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Homily Of Archbishop Justin Rigali

Funeral Of Bishop Charles Roman Koester, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Of St. Louis

My dear brother Bishops and Priests,

Members of Bishop Koester’s family,

Friends in our Lord Jesus Christ,

Twenty-seven years ago today, on January 2, 1971, Father Charles Roman Koester was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of St.

Louis by Pope Paul VI.

At that time he was the zealous Pastor of Saint Joan of Arc Parish, dearly loved by the people of God there, as he had been

for twenty-nine years previously in different parishes in the Archdiocese.

This Cathedral Basilica was the scene of his ordination as a Bishop on February 11, 1971, just as it had been the scene of

his ordination as a Priest on December 20, 1941. Today it is the place from which we commend his soul to God.

As we commend his soul to God, we evoke the memory of a man of God, a Pastor with a sense of the people, fiercely

devoted to his flock, a man who was the object of fierce and abiding loyalty from so many parishioners.

From the time that I arrived in St. Louis, I heard how much Bishop Koester belonged to the people, how much he loved

the sick and how faithfully he ministered to them. On one of my visits to see him in the hospital he thanked me for

coming. I replied that the Archdiocese was trying to show some of the great solicitude that he had shown over the years

to others, in the name of the merciful and healing Christ.

His presence in the midst of the people of God recalled the pastoral role of every parish priest, so eloquently presented by

the Second Vatican Council when it stated: “Priests have been placed in the midst of the laity to lead them to the unity of

charity, that they may ‘love one another with fraternal charity…’” (Presbyterorum Ordinis, 9). This ideal would be

crystallized in his episcopal motto: “Charity, Fraternity, Unity” – a program to which he gave himself with total

dedication for all the years of his episcopacy.

His role as a bishop, sharing the fullness of the priesthood, could be summarized with profound pastoral simplicity as

expressed by the Second Vatican Council, which says: “In the Bishop…our Lord Jesus Christ, the Supreme High Priest,

is present in the midst of those who believe.” Bishop Koester never asked for any higher dignity than to make Jesus

Christ present in the midst of His people. It was enough for him, it was everything for him to represent the Good

Shepherd who lays down his life for the flock and who could say: “I know mine and mine know me.”

During the hours of his wake in the Church of Saint Ambrose the people of God from throughout the Archdiocese have

responded to the shepherd who gave himself for them and who showed them all the loving face of Christ, the Good

Shepherd.

Today, yes, we are here to evoke Bishop Koester’s memory and to extol what the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ has

produced in his life and, through him, in the community of the faithful.

But we are also here to celebrate the Word of God and to proclaim our faith in this Word and in all the promises that God

has made.

The Book of Wisdom tells us that “the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment will touch them …. As

gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.” Bishop Koester fulfilled this

role through years of patient endurance. He was tested and found faithful. God took him to Himself. Our message today

is that God is faithful to His people. He has been faithful to Bishop Koester and will be faithful in bringing him, and all of

us in due time, to resurrection from the dead.

For this reason we proclaim with Saint Paul: “We believe and so we speak, knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus

will raise us up along with Jesus ….We do not lose heart ….Indeed, we know that when the earthly tent in which we

dwell is destroyed we have a dwelling provided for us by God, a dwelling in the heavens, not made by hands, but to last

forever.”

These are the truths that we proclaim with a certainty of faith. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the

guarantee and cause of eternal life for Bishop Koester and for all of us. Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ will come

again to take us to Himself, to share with us His Resurrection.

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As we watched Bishop Koester in these his final years, it was clear to all of us that God had called him to share intimately

through Christian suffering in Christ’s own passion and death. At times the degree of this suffering was, humanly

speaking, unbearable. Yet God was faithful. And all along, Christ was present to Bishop Koester and was speaking to

him in the words of our Gospel today: “Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh

you.”

The hour has finally come to see the full truth of these words. God is faithful!

Through the mystery of His death and Resurrection, Christ continues to deliver His people from suffering and death and

to admit them to eternal life. He continues to fulfill his promise. Today the promise is fulfilled for Bishop Koester,

faithful disciple of the Risen Lord, generous Priest, loving Shepherd of Christ’s flock.

In your passing, Bishop Charles, we give thanks to God for all the graces that He bestowed on you throughout your life,

and especially for the gift of final perseverance in faith, hope and charity. We are profoundly grateful for all that the Lord

Jesus has accomplished in you and through you during the many years that you served as Priest and Bishop in this local

Church of St. Louis.

We are grateful to you for your pastoral zeal, for the love that you showed to so many of your brothers and sisters, for the

way you shared their lives, their hopes and sufferings, their joys and their aspirations. We are grateful for the way that

you proclaimed the Gospel by word and example, for the way you taught people about the love of God revealed in Jesus

Christ. We are grateful for the special interest that you showed in the young people and how you were close to them and

to the families to whom you ministered. We are grateful for the faith that you exemplified in your daily life and that

sustained you through long years of trial and suffering. We are grateful for the hope that the Holy Spirit inspired in your

heart and which accompanied you to the end. We are grateful for the charity, fraternity and unity which you so zealously

endeavored to promote in so many ways and throughout so many years.

We are grateful, likewise, to all those who assisted you throughout your ill health and your protracted suffering: the

doctors, nurses, health-care givers, your faithful friends, especially at Regina Cleri and Mother of Good Counsel Home,

and in particular your friend Charlie, who was with you in the hospital all the time, and all those who generously sought to

show you in return the love that they had experienced as coming from your own pastoral heart.

We are grateful as a local Church, as your friends, as those who have benefited from your ministry, for all the special

graces that have come to you during your life, during your priesthood and during your episcopacy through the intercession

of our Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom we entrust you at this moment and to whom we commend your priestly heritage and

your holy memory as a loving shepherd in our midst.

And finally, as a community of faith, we render praise and thanksgiving in this our Eucharist to the Most Blessed Trinity,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We render praise and thanksgiving to the God who called you to your Christian vocation, to

your priestly and episcopal ministry in the Church, to the God who faithfully sustained you and now rewards you with

everlasting life. Amen.

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Father Joseph Selinger

North American College, Rome, 1887

1888 Photo

Father Charles Koester, Silver Jubilee Charles “Black” Ferrario

1966 Photo