Virgil Michel, OSB, monk of St. John\u2019s Abbey and lover of the liturgy, died on November 26, 1938.<\/p>\n
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Fr. Virgil does not want us to remember him, however.\u00a0 He knew he was a touchstone, a starting point, a spark, a switchboard\u2014for others to connect, to find love in Christ and communion with each other.\u00a0 Fr. Virgil knew that life could be changed if others came to see liturgical worship for what it was: the source of true social transformation.<\/p>\n
Virgil Michel was a great reader, a consumer of philosophy, theology, and news in more than one modern language (though German was close to his Minnesotan heart).\u00a0 He was likewise a great writer\u2014and used his words to encourage, communicate, and to admonish the faithful to find something more than a serving station for grace when they stopped at Church.\u00a0 In fact, when Virgil died, the only items found in his monk\u2019s cell belonging to him<\/em>\u2026were a set of St. Thomas\u2019 Summa Theologica<\/em> and\u2026a typewriter. When Virgil left this world, he left his words behind him\u2014and many saddened hearts, in sorrow over the loss of their friend.\u00a0 On his desk, in fact, were some stacks of unpublished articles and chapters. Some were complete, but others left unfinished when he had to leave his work for St. John\u2019s infirmary, while he struggled with pleural pneumonia (the acute cause of death was an infection\u2014from cutting himself while shaving).<\/p>\n One of the last items on Virgil\u2019s desk was a \u201cTimely Tract\u201d he began composing at the beginning of September 1938, an opinion piece which was to appear in Orate Fratres <\/em>(now Worship<\/em>) with the title \u201cCatholic Workers and Apostles.\u201d<\/p>\n In it, he recounts not a strictly liturgical venture, but joyfully praises the proliferation of publications which he had read promoting Catholic social action (he names 7, one of which is in German), and the multiplication of Catholic Worker affiliates (a total of 21 houses, 17 \u201ccells\u201d or centers, and three [ill-fated] farms).\u00a0 He describes the work of such publications, such as the latest subscription to arrive on his desk, the Chicago Catholic Worker:<\/em>\u00a0 \u201cThis youngest scion of the [Catholic Worker] movement is energetic and lively, as one would expect from the metropolis of the Middle West, known to us in youth as the \u2018Windy City\u2019!\u00a0 Its Worker <\/em>is breezy indeed, not however with the mouthings of the world, but with the gentle and insistent breath of the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n Virgil, who had personally visited and spoken at most of the Catholic Worker houses in the United States by the summer of 1938, felt well-suited to evaluate their work and publications.\u00a0 In his opinion, the new Chicago Catholic Worker\u2019s paper was well-grounded in the \u201cdoctrine of the mystical body of Christ,\u201d and frequently drew upon it as inspiration for an \u201capostolic Christian life.\u201d\u00a0 Such work reminded him of the homilies of the Church Fathers in their own \u201cancient and vital conception of the Christ-life.\u201d\u00a0 He concluded his review, asking, \u201cWhy not save on lip-stick (women) or cigars (men) or cigarettes (both) and try a year\u2019s subscription?\u201d<\/p>\n After finishing his plug for Worker <\/em>publications with a dose of humor\u2014Virgil turned to a more In this last Timely Tract that would appear (the issue date was November 27th<\/sup>\u2014the day after his death), Virgil came to the defense of those Catholics who were fearlessly embracing the call to be Christ\u2019s Body in the world, and to serve the least among us.\u00a0 For Virgil, this call to social action was <\/em>the heart of the liturgical movement:\u00a0 becoming the Mystical Body of Christ alive in the world.\u00a0 He offered these words:<\/p>\n Catholic Workers and apostles!\u00a0 You have your faults and your shortcomings.\u00a0 But who among us on earth is not burdened with them?<\/p>\n If people slander and calumniate you, so did they Christ.<\/p>\n You are indeed an eyesore and a scandal even to Catholics, but usually only to such as revel in their self-complacency, whose religion is one of asking from God and knows not the blessedness of giving.<\/p>\n If you are a stone of scandal to the self-righteous, so was Christ.\u00a0 And he told us that it was not the Pharisee but the Publican who went away justified. [\u2026]<\/p>\n Blessed are you if you are among those who suffer persecution for justice\u2019s sake, since “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Virgil Michel, lover of the liturgy, friend of the Catholic Worker, and child of God\u2014pray for us.<\/p>\n \u2014Virgil Michel, \u201cTimely Tract: Catholic Workers and Apostles,\u201d Orate Fratres 13, no. 1 (1938): 28-30.\u00a0 Also consulted for this piece: Paul Marx, \u201cDom Virgil Michel,\u201d The Catholic Worker 20, no. 4 (1 November 1953): 1, 6.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWhy not save on lip-stick (women) or cigars (men) or cigarettes (both) and try a year\u2019s subscription?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":58444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3119,619],"tags":[3535,3018,3015,58],"class_list":["post-58443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-plaza-new-ws","category-liturgical-movement","tag-catholic-worker","tag-liturgical-movement","tag-social-justice","tag-virgil-michel"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Vintage-Typewriter-300x300.jpg\")
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serious issue.\u00a0 Over the course of that same summer, in which he had visited a number of states, he had frequently encountered questions about the legitimacy and Catholicity of the Catholic Worker.\u00a0 As he explained with some frustration, \u201cbelieve-it-or-not, the old slanders are still circulating and believed even by some priests\u201d:\u00a0 that Catholic Workers are Communists\u2026or worse.<\/p>\n