The Archduke

Many years ago, I was a first-year novice with a religious order. At that time, many senior members of the community were living in area nursing homes, rather than at the community's main house. The community leadership decided to dedicate a wing of the main house to serve members with a need for nursing care. Rooms were prepared and nursing staff were hired.

Each of the first-year novices was assigned to one of the confreres that was returning to the main house from a nursing home. We were not responsible for nursing care, but we were responsible to take our assigned senior confrere to prayer, Mass, meals and social activities in the main house. I was assigned to Father Ferdinand. The first-year novices had nicknames for their respective senior confreres. Having a bit of knowledge of world history, I dubbed Fr. Ferdinand "The Archduke".

The Archduke required nursing care after a severe stroke. He could not speak. However, his mind was very sharp. We soon developed an effective manner of communicating with each other. I learned to understand much of what he wanted by looking at his eyes. During one of our discussions one day, I mentioned that I knew he must be frustrated with not being able to speak and having people around him trying to speak for him. I asked for his patience and told him that we could take as much time as needed in communicating with each other. I apologized for any instances when I was not as patient as I should be with him. He looked at me, grinned, motioned for me to kneel and gave me his blessing. It was the best blessing I have ever received from a priest (and I even had one from the Pope).

Even though my novitiate experience was more than a generation ago, I still think about The Archduke. On the way back to the U.S. from a recent trip to Italy, my wife and I were supposed to fly from Rome to Amsterdam and then from Amsterdam to the U.S. Due to very windy conditions, we could not land in Amsterdam. We had to fly to Rotterdam, wait about 45 minutes and try to return to Amsterdam. While most of the other passangers were very annoyed with the change, I was somewhat pleased. Rotterdam was the birthplace of The Archduke. Amid the grumbling of many passengers, I reflected on my memories of sharing time with The Archduke.