Last night a Solemn Requiem Mass was celebrated at Pine Bluff, WI, at St. Mary’s Church for the repose of the soul of the Extraordinary Ordinary… who shall wear that mantle in the future?… His Excellency, Most Rev. Robert C. Morlino, the late Bishop of Madison.
Priests from the Society of Jesus the Priest and of the Diocese were sacred ministers.
The Mass was preceded by the singing of Vespers from the Office of the Dead. The pastor, Fr. Heilman presided.
The evening continued with Solemm Mass.
After the Mass and before the absolution of the catafalque, yours truly gave the sermon.
Absolution of the catafalque.
When our loved one’s die, we must avoid canonizing them. We should pray for the dead, even when we are confident about the state of their souls. Always ask God for mercy and have Masses said for them and try to gain indulgences for them.
UPDATE:
The whole world is watching this transition in Madison. Here is a tweet about a Mass for Bp. Morlino in the Diocese of Nellore, India.
Bishop Morlino and the Diocese of Madison are being prayed for around the world. Thank you to everyone offering masses for the repose of his soul. This was sent from the Diocese of Nellore, India pic.twitter.com/zVvLeekJsJ
— Diocese of Madison (@MadisonDiocese) December 6, 2018
Loading ...
That Mass in India is a great statement about the universality and oneness of the Church!
That frontal… Okay, maybe it is cheesy, but it is lovingly so.
More to the point… If you could get a durable material, and if you could print it out in a less “photographic” style, the concept of printing out a fabric frontal is not a bad one!
The whole world is watching this transition in Madison
Even the TVs in Tim Hortons in Canada had something on them about this.
Your sermon was one of the most beautiful! I will admit I was sobbing and wishing there had been a tissue alert as I was entirely without one. I was so hoping to hear about his deathbed moments and was beyond grateful and overjoyed to hear he had received Extreme Unction and the Apostolic Pardon (not that I doubted he would have been provided for). We too will continue to pray for his soul and for the future of our diocese. May God bless us with a holy Bishop.
A question: what can the cultus look like for someone, such as the good Extra-Ordinary, who has passed on to his reward, with good thought among the faithful who knew him that he was saintly, but who has not been canonized? Certainly, not neglecting to pray for the repose of his soul, but at what point can we also conditionally pray to him for his intercession?
@Veritatis Splendor
When someone is canonized by Rome, that is just raising the individual universally to the altars. It is the making of a local cultus universal. It is not a transition period between when people may not pray to someone to intercede to when people may intercede. In order for there to be a universal cultus, there needs to be a local cultus.
The question of whether or not those in purgatory can hear petitions and the additional question of whether or not they can then intercede is not a settled question. However, two things: It is by grace that those in heaven may hear our prayers and so it is only a question of grace that those in purgatory might. Secondly, those who have passed beyond this life are not bound by space-time. For me, it is sometime after 12pm on Friday December 7th, 2018. That is not the time nor date in heaven nor purgatory. A pray from earth today may be received “tomorrow” in heaven and acted upon yesterday on earth. Think of it this way — even if those in purgatory cannot answer petitions now, they will just have a stack of petitions for them to work on when they exit purgatory.
So, in my humble opinion, for the Extraordinary Ordinary — pray for his soul in purgatory (as he implied, he has a long road ahead of him) and, if you are so moved, pray that he might intercede when God allows him to do such.
–As for the topic of this post, thank you Fr. Z for keeping all of your readership informed and allowing us to have some small participation in grieving and praying for this great Bishop. It is personally incredibly moving.
Boy! That is one heck of an antependium! Bp. Morlino loved the Indian priests serving in his diocese.
I’ll be praying for the bishop and you, Father Z, in Masses December 8 and 9.
@Lurker 59:
I believe there is something about not directly praying to someone who is not yet a Blessed or a Saint, but rather praying that God may display His favor for that person’s cause through an asked-for intention.