By Allan BurkeSt. Mary’s Church at As-

sumption Abbey, Richardton, was filled with mourners for the funeral Mass for Abbot Brian Wangler, OSB, 73, on Tuesday, May 30, 2017. He died Thurs., May 25, at a Richardton care facility.

He was the eighth abbot to lead the monastery and the first to die while an abbot.

In addition to family mem-bers and friends and fellow monks, at the Mass were Bishop David A. Kagan of the Diocese of Bismarck; priests and deacons from the diocese; Abbot John Klassen, OSB of St. John’s Abbey, Colle-geville, Minn.; Benedictines from other communities; other religious, and members of St. Mary’s, St. Thomas and St. Stephen’s parishes.

Burial was in the Assump-tion Abbey Cemetery.

HomilyFr. Valerian Odermann,

OSB celebrated the 1:30 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial for Abbot Brian.

While still a monk at As-sumption Abbey, Fr. Valerian currently serves as Chaplain of Mount Marty College, Yankton, S.D.

Addressing Abbot Brian’s terminal cancer, Fr. Vale-rian recalled a man named George. He’d suffered from cancer for several months but took medication faithfully. That mitigated the pain. The chaplain visited George every day to calm him. As the end approached, the chaplain

Abbot Brian Wangler’s eight brothers and one sister and some of his nephews, nieces, grand-nephews and grand-nieces posed during the reception in the abbey’s dining room after the funeral Mass. The abbot’s brothers are Tony Wangler, Mark (Luella) Wangler, Frank (Florence) Wangler, Alois (Erica) Wangler, Julius (Patricia Ann) Wangler, Valentine (JoAnn) Wangler, Jim (Diane) Wangler and Steven (Sherry) Wangler and his surviving sister is Ann Marie (Allyn) Wald. His sister, Elsie Weninger, is deceased. Her husband, Norbert, was present.

Abbot Brian Wangler laid to rest overlooking valley below the abbey

Priests are processing into the church at the start of the services.

became even more concerned and struggled to comfort George.

He recalled on one visit when George grimaced, then opened his eyes and said, “Father, I can’t wait for this to be over. Don’t worry about me. I know what’s going to happen. When I die, God’s going to be very happy to see me!”

Fr. Valerian said, “Yes, his name was George... The name could’ve been Brian.”

He said he was recently looking up how to pronounce a word and a question popped up on the computer screen—What is the hardest word to pronounce in English?

“I expected it to be something like ‘anemone,’ ‘Worcestershire’ or ‘otorhi-nolaryngologist,’” Fr. Valeri-an said. “Well, surprise, THE hardest word to pronounce in English was none of these—not even close. The hardest word is S-O-R-R-Y—sorry! More people have difficulty pronouncing that word than any other.”

He added that being able to say “sorry” reminded him of comments made by Abbot Brian at a conference this past Lent when the abbot said, “Within me is a push to be at peace with people. Face the issue and be at peace. Life is easier that way.”

Abbot Brian continued, “One time a lady accused me of hurting her friend rather badly and thereby, hurting

her. I could not figure out what I had done wrong, and I was determined not to apologize for something I did not do. After about a half year and talking with the lady twice about the situation, I decided to cave-in and apologize for actions which, in my opinion, I did not do. I figured, ‘why can I not apologize if it will help someone else.’

“She immediately ac-

cepted the apology and things were good between us. In that situation I had to reflect on whether or not I could humiliate myself for the sake of someone else and not be damaged emotionally.”

Fr. Valerian noted, “That incident captures the tone of what Abbot Brian strove to be—for What will separate

Abbot Brian Wangler, OSB

October 19, 1943May 25, 2017

Fr. Valerian Odermann was the main celebrant at the funeral Mass.

(Please see ABBOT on Page 3)

A depiction of St. Benedict hangs in one of the hallways at the abbey.

At the burial of the Abbot are, left to right, Br. Placid Gross, Br. Jacob Deiss and Br. John Patrick Arnett.

Visiting at the reception after the funeral are, left to right, Fr. John Paul Gardner, Sr. Thomas Welder and Fr. Daniel Maloney.

Bishop David Kagan of the Diocese of Bismarck.

us from the love of Christ?”He said Abbot Brian firmly

believed that nothing can “separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Fr. Valerian said in dying, Abbot Brian “again showed us the way. He died with dignity among us and gave us the gift of his last journey with its ups and downs, suffering and weakness and finding the way even in death.”

He quoted Jesus who said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Fr. Valerian said, “We miss Abbot Brian, his pleasant company, his conversation and his gentle way. He became one of the best expressions of what our Benedictine community strives to be.”

He continued, quoting Jesus, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places,” and concluded, “We know, Abbot Brian, God’s very happy to see you!”

About Abbot BrianThe son of Valentine and

Mary (Wald) Wangler, he grew up on the family farm in the St. Boniface Church community near Kintyre. He was the fifth child of nine boys and two girls.

His elementary education was at a country school with one teacher for all eight grades. His first year of high school was at St. Fran-cis Academy, Hankinson, where he had two aunts in the Franciscan community. He finished high school at Assumption Abbey Prep in 1961 and attended the Ab-bey’s Junior College from 1961 to 1963, after which he entered Assumption Abbey to begin monastic life. Born as Henry, he was given the name Brian, and made his monastic profession on July 11, 1964.

After completing college studies at St. John’s Univer-sity, Collegeville, Minn., in 1966, he began theological studies at Assumption Abbey Seminary for the 1966-1967 school year. From 1967 to 1970 Frater Brian completed his seminary studies at St. Meinrad School of Theology, St. Meinrad, Ind. He was ordained simplex on Aug. 2, 1969.

From September to De-cember 1970, Father Brian was a recruiter for Assump-tion College. In December of 1970, the decision was made to close the college, and in January of 1971 he was ap-pointed assistant pastor of

ABBOT(Continued from Page 1)

The procession of several hundred mourners walk behind the hearse from the church to the cemetery.

The abbey’s grotto is near the abbot’s final resting place.

The Schola (singers) are Fr. James Kilzer, Fr. Boniface Muggli and Br. Jacob Deiss.

Br. Charles McDaniels does the first scripture reading.

Br. Michael Taffe gives the second scripture reading.

St. Joseph’s Church, Devils Lake. In August of 1972 he was called back to the Ab-bey to head up the Christian Life Center. In time he also became the Prior, Formation Director, and worked with Marriage Encounter. Abbot Robert West sent Father Brian to Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pa., in Septem-ber of 1975 to earn an MA degree in Catholic Formative Spirituality. Father Brian graduated from Duquesne in May of 1978, and returned to the Abbey to serve as Forma-tion Director. He was also reappointed Prior. During the spring of 1983, he was asked to become pastor of St. Mary’s Parish, Richardton, a job he enjoyed for the next 21 years.

On May 28, 2004, Father Brian was elected eighth ab-bot of Assumption Abbey. Abbot Brian came to be ap-preciated for his emotional balance, practical wisdom and willingness to serve. He often rolled up his sleeves and did menial chores along-side his brother-monks. He seemed genuinely to love his job. In addition to his many duties as major superior, he took the Sunday evening Mass at Queen of Peace Church in Dickinson, from the last Sunday of January, 2005, to Sun., Oct. 30, 2016.

Abbot Brian received a diagnosis of cancer in Octo-ber of 2015 and was on che-motherapy for eight months. One of Abbot Brian’s regrets during his last year was in not being able to visit all family members as he would have liked, and in not being able to visit, one more time, As-sumption Abbey’s beloved daughter house, Monasterio Benedictino de Tibatí in Bo-gota, Colombia.

Abbot Brian enjoyed mo-nastic life and was very grate-ful to his confreres for their dedication and good humor.