Kasimir Reichlin

†

Rev. Casimir Reichlin
Rector of
St. Stephen's Church
Cleveland, O.
1843 — 1870 — 1917

† Requiescat in Pace †

Father Reichlin is buried in the Priests' Circle, next to Bishop Koudelka. One can see where one of Koudelka's sheep is legless.

Usually, a simple inscription on a grave marker has only two dates. This one has a birth date (1843), and a death date (1917), and one more. The middle date is 1870, when Father Reichlin became rector. Rector is equivalent to pastor, rector comes from the Latin 'regere' to rule. Now, the term used is pastor.

His pastorship ended with his death, that was not unusual. A later pastor of St. Stephen's was told, "Our pastors don't retire, they die". Reichlin was given the newly formed parish at ordination, it was the second German parish on the city's west side.

The first was St. Mary of the Assumption, who bought the land for St. Mary's Cemetery. St. Mary's was given to the Jesuits in 1945, and twinned with St. Patrick's. German born Jesuits had built St. Ignatius [Loyola] (now High School). American born Irish replaced them. The last parish Mass at St. Mary's was in 1959. It continued as the school's chapel. In 1968 the church was razed. The ethnic rivalry has really not ended. Recently, Cleveland's bishop, Richard Lennon tried to 'merge' St. Stephen's with neighboring St. Colman's at St. Stephen. This caused an uproar. Colman's was quickly saved through a heavy, and immediate campaign, as was St. Ignatius of Antioch. St. Stephen's continues to exist by the grace of God. Both parishes are officially on probation, two of three such [the third is St. Ignatius].
The Father welcoming the Prodigal Son window was created by Munich's Mayer company, and installed in 1906. The window's sponsor was the Swiss born pastor Kasimir Reichlin.

the pastoral care of sheep

Upkeep is a term for custodial care. Some cemetery monuments decay, and erode naturally from the elements of weather. At times, the actions of men cause further decay. Sometimes, restoration occurs; other times temporary measures are instituted; sometimes they stay.

Supra, wire connects hoof and thigh. Infra, before wire insertion on the Good Shepherd grouping of Bishop Joseph Koudelka's memorial.

Sometimes pastoral care in the Cleveland diocese is lacking.

Bishop Koudelka

Joseph Maria Koudelka *1852 Chilstova, Bohemia; Superior, Wisconsin 1921†.

Between the suppressed St. Procop Catholic Church and Interstate 90 there lays St. Mary's Cemetery. When entering from West 41st there is the Priests' Circle. A dozen, mostly German, priests are buried. One was a bishop. His monument has Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The sheep on the left stands on two legs, recently twisted wire was inserted in the stump of a third leg. A plaque has been absent for awhile, scrappers? and neglect.

Koudelka's family came to America (Wisconsin) in 1869. He entered the seminary in Milwaukee and transferred to Cleveland in 1874. Koudelka was ordained a deacon in February 1875 and was given charge of St. Procop. Procop's was the first Czech (Bohemian) parish on the west side of Cleveland, founded in 1872. In October of '75, Fr. Koudelka said his first Mass. In May 1882 Koudelka went to St. Louis, Missouri to edit a Catholic Czech publication. His parish refused any other priest, and was put under an inderdict (Bishop Gilmour suspended access to sacraments) from February '84 to July '85 when an acceptable priest was named pastor.

In 1883 a mission of German speaking St. Mary Cleveland was raised to a parish. The first pastor was Joseph Koudelka, he was called back from St. Louis. Koudelka was a polyglot, a writer, and an artist and well received by the Germans. His new St. Michael's was for years the most impressive church in the city, and is still a landmark from miles away in many directions.

In 1908 [February 25], he was ordained an auxiliary bishop for special pastoral care for the Slavonic peoples. The Catholic Church in Cleveland suffered ethnic rivalries. There was a division between "the English" and "the Germans". The "English" were Irish; and "the Germans" were those whose first language was not English. There were no real English, and inside the city most of the "Germans" were not German. Cleveland's bishop was Ignatius Horstmann, *1840 Philadelphia, 1908 [May 13]†. The Irish clergy boycotted the ordination of the first auxiliary, and none signed the book of witness. This was reflected nationally too, Irish bishops were not fond of the 'new migration' from Europe.

In 1911 Koudelka was auxiliary in Milwaukee. In 1913 he became bishop of Superior, Wisconsin. When he died, his requiem was held at St. Michael's, and he was buried at St. Mary's Cemetery Cleveland.

portrait on episcopal chair at Saint Michael Cleveland