Michael A. Mathis, C.S.C. (1885-1960)
Liturgical Pioneer
Page 2: Called as Missioner and Liturgist
But his studies never distracted him from what
he would always call his "first
love" -- the overseas missions. For twenty-five years, first as a doctoral
student, then as a teacher of scripture at Holy Cross College, as mission
procurator for the congregation of Holy Cross, and as founding superior of
the community's Foreign Mission Seminary, Mathis devoted his abundant energies
wholeheartedly to organizing every kind of support for the missions. In 1925,
he also collaborated with Dr. Anna Dengel in founding the Catholic Medical
Mission Society, better known as the Medical Mission Sisters, for whom he
served as full-time chaplain from 1933-1938.
In 1936, while reading a copy of Pius Parsch's
classic commentary The Church's Year of Grace, given to him by a respected
colleague, Mathis underwent a conversion which surprised no one more than
himself. Though he had always had a low opinion of liturgists, he found himself
exclaiming: "This is the real stuff!" He later said of the experience: "I
was converted to liturgy...and I do mean converted!" For the remaining
24 years of his life, especially after he was recalled from his beloved mission
work in 1938, he re-directed his boundless energies to his second love: the
promotion of the liturgy.
