Anthony Joseph Schuler


Anthony Joseph Schuler was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. A member of the Society of Jesus, he served as the first Roman [Catholic Diocese of El Paso|bishop of El Paso] in Texas and New Mexico from 1915 to 1942.

Biography

Early life and education

Schuler was born on September 20, 1869, in St. Marys, Pennsylvania. He was the eldest of four children of Joseph and Albertina Schuler, both immigrants from Oberprechtal in Germany. In 1876, the family moved to Georgetown, Colorado, where Schuler's father worked in the gold mines of Chicago Creek.
After his father died in a mining accident in 1883, Schuler was mentored by his local Catholic priest, Reverend Nicholas Chrysostom Matz. Schuler later recalled that he, "became a father to me in every way." With Matz's help, Schuler secured two part-time jobs to support his family, one as a day laborer in the mines and the other as a store clerk. Since he was unable to attend school while working, he received private instruction under Matz. When the archdiocese assigned Matz to a Denver parish in 1885, Schuler moved there also. In Denver, he assisted Matz as a sacristan at St. Anne's Parish while furthering his education.
After hearing a sermon from Reverend Arnold Damen, a prominent Jesuit missionary, Schuler decided to join the order. On December 7, 1886, he was admitted to the Society of Jesus and entered St. Stanislaus Seminary in Florissant, Missouri. He professed his first vows as a Jesuit on December 8, 1888. He studied at St. Stanislaus and Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. In1893, Schuler was appointed to the faculty of Sacred Heart College in Denver. He remained there for five years, then moved to Woodstock College in Woodstock, Maryland, to complete his theological studies.

Priesthood

While at Woodstock, Schuler was ordained a priest for the Jesuits on June 27, 1901, by Cardinal Sebastiano Martinelli, the Apostolic Delegate to the United States. Following his ordination, the Jesuits allowed Schuler to skip the traditional tertianship period of formation and named him as president of Sacred Heart College.
Schuler professed his final vows as a Jesuit on March 25, 1908. That same year, the Jesuits transferred him from Sacred Heart College to El Paso, Texas, where he served as assistant pastor at Immaculate Conception Parish and chaplain to both Hotel Dieu Hospital and Holy Family Chapel. In 1911, Schuler was reassigned to Denver to serve as assistant pastor at Sacred Heart Parish, becoming its full pastor in 1912.

Bishop of El Paso

On June 17, 1915, Schuler was named the first bishop of El Paso by Pope Benedict XV. The diocese had been created by Pope Pius X in March 1914, comprising more than 60,000 square miles across West Texas and southern New Mexico. However, the diocese remained without a bishop for more than a year following the death of Pius X in August 1914 and the refusal of Reverend John J. Brown to accept his appointment as the diocese's bishop. Rome accepted Brown's resignation and selected Schuler instead.
Schuler received his episcopal consecration on October 28, 1915, from Archbishop John Baptist Pitaval, with Bishops Patrick A. McGovern and Henry Regis Granjon serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral [Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (Denver)|Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception] in Denver. The ceremony was attended by Matz, who had become bishop of Denver in 1889, and Schuler's mother Albertina, who received her son's first episcopal blessing.
On November 11, 1915, Schuler was installed at Immaculate Conception Church in El Paso. At the beginning of Schuler's tenure in 1915, the diocese contained 31 priests, 22 parishes, 58 missions, nine parochial schools, and three academies to serve 64,440 Catholics. By the end of Schuler's tenure 27 years later in 1942, there was a Catholic population of 121,854, as well as 118 priests, 49 parishes, 97 missions, 12 parochial schools, and five academies.
With Immaculate Conception Church being too small to accommodate the growing congregation, Schuler laid the cornerstone of a new cathedral in El Paso on November 12, 1916. The Cathedral of St. Patrick was officially dedicated on November 29, 1917. During the Mexican Revolution of 1910 to 1920, Schuler provided refuge in the diocese for the many Catholic clergy and religious orders who fled persecution in Mexico. One such seminarian was Peter of Jesus Maldonado, who was ordained a priest by Schuler in 1918. Maldonado was murdered in Mexico in 1937 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000.
Described as a "liberal" by the El Paso Times, Schuler was known to be tolerant of other faiths; speakers at the 1936 celebration of his 50 years as a Jesuit included the Episcopal bishop Frederick Bingham Howden and the Jewish rabbi Martin Zielonka. Schuler disagreed with prohibition of alcohol in the United States, calling the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution a "failure" and "one of the greatest curses ever placed on this country." He also declared there was "no harm" in betting on horse racing, saying, "It is not a sin in itself, the sin lying in the abuse of it."

Retirement and death

In December 1941, the 72-year-old Schuler received Bishop Sidney Matthew Metzger, previously an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, as a coadjutor bishop with the right of succession. With a successor in place, Schuler announced his resignation as bishop of El Paso on November 22, 1942. He received the honorary title of titular bishop of Aradus on November 29th from Pope Pius XII.
Schuler spent his retirement at Regis University, where he died on June 3, 1944, at age 74. He was originally buried at Concordia Cemetery in El Paso, but his remains were later moved to Mount Carmel Cemetery of the same city in 1983.