... from the Abbot's office

May 5, 2003 Today we buried Father Gabriel. His family was very faithful to him over the years and would come to visit. A good number of them were able to come for the funeral mass held for him this morning. We will miss him even though he was in a bed or wheel chair all the time. He got a good deal of attention from the community. Here is the death notice sent to all the monasteries of our Order:

Fr. Gabriel Oppus, ocso, died peacefully in the infirmary at the Abbey of O.L. of the Philippines, on May 3, 2003. He was born in 1925 in Baclayon, Bohol, Philippines.

Having entered the monastery in 1973, he made solemn profession in 1979. He had been ordained a priest in 1958. From 1982-7 he served as the first elected Prior and resigned because of health problems. He served as chaplain to the Trappistines at Matutum for a couple years. He was bed-ridden the last three years and accepted his condition with much patience. Please pray for his eternal rest.

Abbot John Eudes and the Monks

Mother Giovanna, the abbess of the Trappistines in Mindanao, arrived yesterday to pray with us at the funeral mass. Father Gabriel had served for a couple years as chaplain at their monastery, and the sisters there remember him with affection. She was accompanied by Father Fabian, the present chaplain at Matutum, who is one of the original six founders of our community. He had been hospitalized recently but is now in good form and able to carry his various functions as chaplain.

Dom Mark Scott, Abbot of Ava, Missouri, and Father Immediate of this community, is with us at present making the visitation. We are in the middle of it just now and so no conclusions have been reached but the preliminary report he gave indicates that the community feels considerable progress has been made materially and, more importantly, spiritually this past year. There is a sense of peace and a consensus that monastic life has improved in quality, thanks to the cooperation of all and the prayers of our many friends, and the mercy of God!.

Abbot John Eudes Bamberger, OCSO
Our lady of the Philippines

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