In Memoriam:
+Miss Joyce Ann Rentschler, R.I.P.
Although I am working on another original article, I wanted to let readers of this site to know the details of the wake and Requiem Mass for the late +Miss Joyce Ann Rentschler, a parishioner of Saint Gertrude the Great Church, who died this morning after suffering a massive heart attack on Saturday, June 6, 2009. Miss Darlene Rentschler, Joyce's devoted sister, has provided me with the following details and has requested that they be posted on this site.
The wake for +Joyce Ann Rentschler will be held in Helfta Hall of Saint Gertrude the Great Church, 4900 Rialto Road, West Chester, Ohio 45069, on Tuesday, June 16, 2009, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary will be prayed at 7:30 p.m. (Those who are unfamiliar with the location of Saint Gertrude the Great Church can find it at MapQuest Maps - Driving Directions - Map.) The wake will resume at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 17, 2009, in Helfta Hall prior to a Rosary Procession from the Hall to the Church that will begin at 10:30 a.m. (Imagine going out with a Rosary Procession prior to one's Requiem Mass!) The Requiem Mass will begin at approximately 10:50 a.m. Burial will follow at Saint Mary's Cemetery in Saint Bernard, Ohio.
The family is requesting that that, instead of flowers, that Joyce's relatives and friends donate monies to be applied for the offering of Gregorian Masses (which, as you may know, are series of thirty Masses offered consecutively in a given month). Checks for this purpose are to be made out to Saint Gertrude the Great Church (or Saint Gertrude's). Mass cards may be given to the family during the wake. Readers of this site may send their Mass requests into the office of Saint Gertrude the Great Church at the address above. Those desiring to bring flowers are requested to bring garden flowers. Vases will be provided. Joyce's siblings have lost their sister and their friend. They very much appreciate any and all donations that can be made to the offering of Gregorian Masses for their sister's immortal soul.
Miss Rentschler was given the Sacrament of Extreme Unction conditionally by Father Joseph Greenwell after she had died. Miss Rentschler's death was sudden and unexpected. Her death was not, however, a sacramentally unprovided one. Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ took Miss Rentschler on the First Saturday in the month of His Most Sacred Heart, the month of June. Joyce Rentschler and her sister, Darlene, were faithful participants in the Friday evening devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus at Saint Gertrude the Great Church.
A devoted daughter of Our Lady and her Most Holy Rosary, Joyce Rentschler was called to eternity on a First Saturday, which means that she, who had just been given the Sacrament of Extreme Unction and always wore the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, was, most likely, the beneficiary of Our Lady's Sabbatine Privilege that she revealed to Jacques d'Euse, the future Pope John XXII (that's Pope John the Twenty-second), described as follows by Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., in The Liturgical Year:
In the night between the 15th and 16th of July of the year 1251, the gracious Queen of Carmel confirmed to her sons [the Carmelites] by a mysterious sign the right of citizenship she had obtained for them in their newly adopted countries [of the West]; as mistress and mother of the entire religious state she conferred upon them with her queenly hands the scapular, hitherto the distinctive garb of the greatest and most ancient family of the West. O giving St. Simon Stock this badge, ennobled by contact with her sacred fingers, the Mother of God said to him: 'Whosoever shall die in this habit shall not suffer eternal flames.' But not against hell fire alone was the all-powerful intercession of the Blessed Mother to be felt by those who should wear the scapular. In 1316, when every holy soul was imploring heaven to put a period to that long and disastrous widowhood of the Church, which followed in the death of Clement V, the Queen of Saints appeared to James d'Euse, whom the world was soon to hail as John XXII; she foretold to him his approaching elevation to the Sovereign Pontificate, and at the same time recommended him to publish the privilege she had obtained from her Divine Son for her children of Carmel--viz., a speedily deliverance from purgatory. 'I, their Mother, will graciously go down to them on the Saturday after their death, and all whom I find in purgatory I will deliver and will bring to the mountain of life eternal.' These are the words of our Lady herself, quoted by John XII in the Bull which he published for the purpose of making known the privilege and which was called the Sabbatine Bull on account of the day chosen by the glorious benefactress for the exercise of her mercy.
We are aware of the attempts made to nullify the authenticity of these heavenly concessions; but our extremely limited time will not allow us to follow up these worthless struggles in all their endless details. The attack of the chief assailant, the too famous Lounoy, was condemned by the Apostolic See, and after, as well as before, these contradictions, the Roman Pontiffs confirmed, as much as need be, by their supreme authority, the substance and even the letter of the precious promises. The reader may find in special works the enumeration of the many indulgences with which the Popes have, time after time, enriched the Carmelite family, as if earth would vie with heaven in favouring it. The munificence of Mary, the pious gratitude of her sons for the hospitality given them by the West, and lastly, the authority of St. Peter's successors, soon made these spiritual riches accessible to all Christians, by the instruction of the Confraternity of the holy Scapular, the members whereof participate in the merits and privileges of the whole Carmelite Order. Who shall tell the graces, often miraculous, obtained through this humble garb? Who could count the faithful now enrolled in the holy militia? When Benedict XIII, in the eighteenth century, extended the feast of July 16 to the whole Church, he did but give an official sanction to the universality already gained by the cultus of the Queen of Carmel.
We presume the state of no soul after death, of course. Even though I would much rather be in the position of Miss Joyce Rentschler, who was so devoted to our Holy Catholic Faith and received the Sacrament of Extreme Unction just before her death, than that of someone who had been away from the Sacraments for years, at the moment of my own Particular Judgment, we must pray nevertheless for the repose of her immortal soul and to have Masses offered for this intention. Our Lady will direct the fruits of those prayers to some other deserving soul if Miss Rentschler's does not need them.
We were privileged to know Miss Rentschler and offer our deepest condolences to her sister and other family members. It has been in God's Holy Providence that we have lost many friends and acquaintances in the last few years. While we continue to pray without fail every day for each of these lost friends and acquaintances, we are also very grateful for the new friends we have met. Miss Joyce Rentschler was one of those new friends, and we were indeed very privileged to know this devoted soul.
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul and all of the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
The late +Miss Joyce Rentschler, R.I.P., left, and her sister Darlene, right, Mitchell's Fish Market, West Chester, Ohio, Sunday, July 13, 2008.
All to thee, Blessed Mother. All to thy Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we love you. Save souls!
Isn't it time to pray a Rosary now.
Viva Cristo Rey! Vivat Christus Rex!
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.
Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.
Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.
Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.
Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.
Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.
See also: A Litany of Saints
