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Father Agnellus Sobolewski, OFM
At St. Victoria 1980-1985
I remember that "beautiful" was the favorite word of Father Agnellus. The choir sang beautiful. The children were beautiful. All good efforts were beautiful. He was the priest here at St. Victoria when the TV series "Dallas" was popular and he used to call me Sue Ellen, who was the wife of J.R. Ewing. I remember that Father Agnellus drove erratically and more than once he hit a car on Main Street Victoria. One time he fell on the ice and broke his leg. He had to recuperate at a nursing home in Waconia, which he didn't care for at all. I remember that I went trick or treating one time dressed up as a priest and I asked him if he'd like my blessing. He had no response. Father Agnellus died on August 30th, 1990, at St. Paschal, Oak Brook, Illinois, due to complications from Alzheimer's Disease. He was buried at St. Mary Cemetery in Chicago, Ill.
Father Elstan Coghill, OFM
At St. Victoria 1985-1996
I remember Father Elstan being at St. Victoria as though it were yesterday. I remember how his eyes went shut every time he laughed, which was a lot. He told more jokes than anybody and the funniest ones. I remember how he drove down to the Victoria House every Wednesday night after choir practice and he always ordered an Arnold Palmer, a drink which is half lemonade and half iced tea. I remember how Fr. E. always poked his head into the sanctuary on Wednesday nights to look up and say hello to the choir. Sometimes he walked upstairs to say hi, and also to fetch Maude, his toy dachshund who did not behave very well and would chase around church. I remember Father arriving at our home on Lilac Lane every night at 5 p.m. for supper that last year when the Guardian Angels Friary in Chaska closed. He and Allan became good friends too. I've been to visit Fr. E. several times since he left Victoria. The Cross in the Woods at Indian River, Michigan, was an impressive place to work and live. Now he lives in the opposite direction down at Springfield, Illinois. Father will be 83 on August 27th.
Father Bob White
At St. Victoria since 1996
I remember when Father Bob first arrived here at St. Victoria in 1996, incognito, to sort of check things out before he signed up, and we were at a dinner party with others. Diocesan priests didn't wear the familiar brown hooded Franciscan robes. I remember that Fr. Bob wanted a bigger place to live than the attached living quarters behind the church, partly because he likes to entertain and partly because he didn't take the vow of poverty like the Franciscans. I remember when Fr. Bob drove a car instead of a bicycle, and when he first began losing his eyesight, and there were thoughts that maybe he wouldn't be able to say Mass anymore and then how could he be a parish priest but he never complained or became negative, then or today. I remember Fr. Bob saying, in 1996 and today in 2005, that he's the luckiest priest in the world to be working at St. Victoria. I remem-ber him being late to say daily Mass, showing up with tousled bed hair, and thinking that we are also lucky in many ways. I remember that he eats three times more than other people and he enjoys movies on a big screen TV, sit-ting only inches away from it. Fr. Bob will be 58 on August 1st. He is older than the editor of the Gazette.
I remember the sacred sanctuary of the St. Victoria Catholic Church, where a candle burned day in and day out telling us that Jesus was here in this House of God. I remember knowing from the moment we opened the front door of the church just exactly where the tabernacle was located, front and center, of course. I remember how we genuflected before we entered a pew or walked past the altar because "every knee should bend, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." I remember two holy water fonts at the front door and one at the side door, so we could bless ourselves with the reminder that we were baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. I remember that, along with Saint Victoria, the Franciscan Saints Anthony and Francis of Assisi were given special place and patronage, like the Franciscan priests who served us for so many years. I remember how the large crucifix, chosen by Fr. Bernadine Hahn, OFM, in the 1950's, inspired prayer and reflection and turned our eyes toward heaven, the home we hope for.
I remember attending weddings at St. Victoria, and how the altar was so beautiful that further adornment was hardly necessary. As I've written about the lives of hundreds of Victoria couples, I remember seeing photographs where they were posed in front of the altar on their wedding day. My own daughter Jenny and her husband Christopher were married at St. Victoria and every pew, even in the choir loft, was filled to overflowing. I remember taking, at the request of the parish each year, dozens of pictures of Victoria kids posed in front of the altar on the day of their First Holy Communion. I remember how even more impressive the altar became with poinsettias, evergreen trees, and lights at Christmas time, and clusters of fragrant lilies at Easter time.
I remember the Christmas Concerts that I played for at St. Victoria and how the sanctuary seemed a fitting location for the choir as we sang "O Come Let Us Adore Him" and "Angels We Have Heard On High." I remember the Spring Concerts that I played for at St. Victoria, especially the pieces "God is in Control" and "He Never Failed Me Yet." I remem-ber that St. Victoria has always had a singing congregation and strong voices, and that a favorite on Sunday morning was "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, early in the morning our songs shall rise to You …"
I remember attending practically every funeral Mass that was held at St. Victoria since 1980, when I became the organist and pianist. I remember that, because of the Gazette and the stories I've written, that I was in fact saying goodbye to friends. I remember not being able to see the pages of my music sometimes because the sentiment blurred my vision. I remember homilies and eulogies that were heart wrenching and endearing and humorous and teaching moments. I remember there were so many floral arrangements for some funerals that it felt like heaven on earth. One time I took a picture from the choir loft because I had never seen so many brown-robed Franciscans gathered together in pews at one time. It was the funeral of Father Robert Schmieg, OFM, a son of the parish, and my friend as well.
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