Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Waters, Thomas Edmund, Msr. July 1, 1937 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Robert Woolfitt http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00034.html#0008401 July 3, 2022, 10:42 am Virginian-Pilot July 6, 1937 FINAL RITES FOR CATHOLIC MONSIGNOR FATHER THOMAS E. WATERS IS LAID TO REST HUNDREDS ATTEND BISHOP IRETON AND FATHER RYAN PRAISE VIRTUES OF DEAD PRELATE Hundreds of citizens from all walks of life gathered in Sacred Heart Catholic Church yesterday morning to pay silent tribute to the memory of the Rt. Rev. Monsignor Thomas E. Waters, while the Most Rev. Peter L. Ireton, bishop of Richmond, and the Rev. Leo J. Ryan, S. T. D., pastor of the church of the Blessed Sacrament, in words told of the priestly virtues of the dead prelate, his love for mankind and his willingness at all times to respond to the call of the needy and the sick. The funeral services began at 9:30 o'clock with the chanting of the office of the dead and a solemn high mass of requiem at 10 o'clock. Sixty priests participated in the chanting services and, during the mass, there were 25 priests in the sanctuary and others in the choir. Following the requiem mass, the choir of priests, under the leadership of the Very Rev. Thomas A. Rankin, pastor of St. Mary's Church, Alexandria, sang the Gregorian mass of requiem. The organist was the Rev. Francis J. Byrne, of Richmond. The celebrant at the mass was the Very Rev. Vincent Waters, a nephew of Monsignor Waters and chancellor of the diocese. The deacon was the Rev. James Gilsenan, pastor of the Church of Our Lady of Nazareth, Roanoke. The Rev. Paul V. Heller, assistant pastor of Sacred Heart, was subdeacon and the Rev. T. J. Tiernay, a former assistant pastor at the same church, was master of ceremonies. The master of ceremonies at the singing of the Gregorian mass was the Rev. F. Harold Nott, of Portsmouth. The acolytes were the Rev. Julius Schmidhauser and the Rev. Thomas Scannell, of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, and the Rev. Francis V. Bambrick, assistant pastor of St. Mary's, Norfolk. "ONE OF THE GREATEST" Bishop Ireton, in a short eulogy following a funeral sermon preached by Father Ryan, said Monsignor Waters was "one of the greatest priests I ever have known." Father Ryan said that, in the death of Monsignor Waters, "I like to think that we have gained an advocate at the Great White Throne of God." Bishop Ireton expressed his sympathy with the parishioners of Sacred Heart at the death of Monsignor Waters. "It has not been my privilege to have labored with him very long, but I knew him and his work before I came to your diocese," he said. "We can thank God for Father Waters." Father Ryan declared that for 22 years he had enjoyed the uninterrupted friendship and confidence of Monsignor Waters and had been a recipient of his wise counsels and the beneficiary of his solid, practical, priestly piety. "For 42 years of his 68 years upon this earth, Father Waters was a priest; that is, a participant, through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, of the powers of the great High Priest, Jesus Christ; a member of that glorious and solemn procession that has marched down the centuries from the time of Christ. "I said that for 52 of his 68 years on this earth, Monsignor Waters was a priest. For 42 years, he was faithful to his divine commission to preach the gospel, to absolve sinners, and offer the sacrifice of the mass. To preach and to teach was a fire that burned in his soul. Of course, we know him best during the years spent in Norfolk, but Father Waters has traveled all over this diocese - the southwest, the east, the west and the Northern Neck. I glimpsed on one occasion the divine fire that consumed him, when, in a moment of confidence, he told me he had hoped to be able to convert the whole State of Virginia. But recently, our most reverend bishop has established a Diocesan Missionary Band to give mission to and to preach to those people far away from cities and who are held in ignorance and prejudice. Over 30 yerars ago there was a missionary band in this diocese and, like today, its mission was to go into the highways and by-ways, the lanes, the crossroads, town halls and streets to preach the gospel. And who was the head of that missionary band? Father Waters. Like the great St. Paul, the spirit of Christ was urging him. Woe to me if I do not evangelize. All things to all men, that all may be won to Christ." "THE CATHOLIC VIRGINIAN" "Today we have in our diocese a monthly publication, "The Catholic Virginian." It is the official diocesan magazine. I wonder, do you know that more than 30 years ago the first copies of "The Catholic Virginian" were written, published and distributed by Father Waters? A salute today to a truly great Catholic Virginian - Monsignor Thomas E. Waters." "Father Waters needs no words of praise from me. This beautiful church will ever be a monument to his memory. And how he loved every brick in it. The school, the pride of his heart, as he watched the boys and girls leave there year after year, well coached in the science of the world and, more important still, well versed in the science of the Saints - the knowledge and the love of God; the Sisters' Home; the rectory. As long as a brick remains standing of these buildings, it will bear the name and honor the memory of Father Waters. I feel I know Father Waters well enough to tell you that he never gloried in these material objects. 'After all,' he said to me on one occasion, 'anyone may build a church, but not everyone can build a parish.' And I saw him take a parish of a few hundred people and build it into a congregation of more than 2000, at a time, too, when a portion of his parish was sliced off and erected into a new one. I saw him build up a parish of loyal, devoted, and well-instructed and generous Catholics. That was his joy, his crown, his glory. I know the people of Sacred Heart Parish and I know what Father Waters thought of you and I know how you felt towards him. So I can readily sympathize with you. He was the shepherd who knew his sheep and loved them and was loved in return. "A few weeks ago I visited him at St. Vincent's. After a few casual remarks he brought up the subject of death." NOT AFARAID TO DIE "'I have come,' he said,' to the end of my life. I don't exactly want to die and I would like to get back in harness again, but I am not afraid to die. Why the whole philosophy of my life is being tested.' "Then came to my mind some words from sacred Scripture. 'Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me, but not my will, but Thine be done. It is consummated. Into Thy hands, O God, I commend my spirit.' In the death of Father Waters, the bishop loses a consultant, a man on whom he leaned for advice and whose opinion he valued. The priests of the diocese lose a fellow-laborer, one who was always welcome where priests met and who loved to be present where priests foregathered. The parish of Sacred Heart loses a beloved pastor and the community of Norfolk a substantial and prominent citizen. But somehow, I like to think we have gained something, too. I mean an advocate at the great white throne of God. As his soul feasts on the beauty of the beatific vision, as the mystery of the trinity and the mystery of the incarnation and the mystery of the real presence are pieced together in a solution to his everlasting intellectual delight, I feel he will ask the Great God of Heaven to look kindly on the diocese of Richmond and the State of Virginia and the State he was born in, the State he worked so long in and the State he loved with every pulse of his heart." "A last salute, a farewell to a great Catholic Virginian, Monsignor Thomas E. Waters." Bishop Ireton conducted the services at the grave in St. Mary's Cemetery, being assisted by the Rev. Joseph Magri, of St. Paul's Church, Portsmouth, and the Rev. John J. Massey, of the Sacred Heart Novitiate, Fortress Monroe. PALLBEARERS The active pallbearers were priests and the honorary pallbearers included many of Norfolk's best known citizens and pastors of non-Catholic Churches. 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