|
The
Most Reverend Rembert G. Weakland, O.S.B. 1977 - 2002
Retired Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland was born
in Patton, Pennsylvania, on April 2, 1927, one of the six children
of Basil and Mary Kane Weakland. He graduated from Our Lady
of Perpetual Help parochial school in Patton, and his high
school, college, and philosophical studies were done in Latrobe,
Pa., at St. Vincent Preparatory School, St. Vincent College,
and St. Vincent Seminary, respectively.
He entered the Religious Life as a Benedictine
novice at St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe in 1945 and was
solemnly professed as a monk in that Order on September 29,
1949, at Solesmes Abbey in France. His theological studies
for the Priesthood were done at the International Benedictine
College of Sant'Anselmo in Rome, Italy, and at St. Vincent
Seminary, Latrobe.
He was ordained to the Priesthood on June
24, 1951, at Subiaco, Italy, by Bishop Lorenzo S. Salvi, O.S.B.,
Abbot Nullius of Subiaco Abbey. He pursued studies in music
in Italy, France, and Germany, as well as at the Juilliard
School of Music, New York, and Columbia University. From 1957
to 1963 he taught Music at St. Vincent College.
During his musical career he has held memberships
and offices in a number of prominent national and international
societies and associations, has lectured widely in Europe
and America, and is the author of several articles on music
and the liturgy, as well as The Play of Daniel. On
December 21, 1999, he defended and received a Ph.D. in Musicology
- "with distinction" - from Columbia University, New York,
for his research and thesis on "The Office Antiphons of the
Ambrosian Chant".
He was elected Coadjutor Archabbot of St.
Vincent Archabbey on June 26, 1963, and received the Solemn
Blessing of an Archabbot from Bishop William G. Connare of
Greensburg, Pennsylvania, on August 29, 1963. Following this,
he became the Chancellor and Chairman of the Board of Directors
of St. Vincent College. On May 8, 1964, he received a papal
appointment as Consultor to the Commission for Implementing
the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second
Vatican Council and was appointed a Member of that Commission
in 1968.
He was elected Abbot Primate of the International
Benedictine Confederation on September 29, 1967. At this time
he also became Chancellor of the International Benedictine
College of Sant'Anselmo, Rome, Italy. He was reelected to
a second term as Abbot Primate in September, 1973. He served
as a member of the Council of Superiors General from 1968
until 1977. He participated in the Synods of Bishops in 1969,
1971, 1973, 1987 and 1997. In 1968 he presided at the meeting of
Monastic Superiors in Bangkok, at which Thomas Merton was
one of the speakers. After Merton's tragic death, he administered
the final anointing and had the body shipped back to the monastery
of Gethsemani.
He was appointed Archbishop of Milwaukee
by Pope Paul VI on September 20, 1977. He was ordained a Bishop
on November 8, 1977, at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist
in Milwaukee, and on the same occasion was installed as Milwaukee's
ninth Archbishop by Archbishop Jean Jadot, Apostolic Delegate
to the United States.
Retired Archbishop Weakland is a past-Chairman
of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' ad hoc Committee
on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy which drafted
the U.S. Bishops' Pastoral Letter on the Economy and past-Chairman
of the NCCB Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.
Archbishop Weakland reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 on April 2, 2002. His retirement was accepted on May 24, 2002.
|