Requiescat in Pace

The Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, His Excellency Paulos Faraj Rahho, has been murdered.

From CNN, via The Cafeteria is Closed:

Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paul Faraj Rahho's body was found Thursday near the town of Mosul, where he and three companions were ambushed by gunmen on February 29.

The archbishop's driver and two security guards were killed during the attack. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had ordered security services to make it a priority to find and free the archbishop.

Nineveh Deputy Gov. Khasro Goran, in Mosul, told CNN that the kidnappers had been in touch with the church and the relatives and wanted to be a paid a ransom for the archbishop's release. The contacts ended a few days ago.

The apparent kidnappers had contacted relatives on Thursday and told them the body was in the eastern part of town. Relatives and authorities went to the location and found the body, which had gunshot wounds.



For more coverage, see American Papist, who has a roundup.

Let us remember Archbishop Rahho in our prayers, and pray for the protection of our Christian brethren in Iraq, particularly the Cardinal Patriarch.

Dom Paschal Baumstein, OSB, Requiescat in Pace.

Last night around 6 pm, Fr. Paschal Baumstein, OSB, passed away at the age of 54. He will be greatly missed by the monastic community and by all else who knew him. His work as the Abbey's resident historian and archivist provided much to the whole community and will surely be instrumental in preserving the traditions and history of the Abbey for years to come.

From the monastery's website:

Father Paschal Baumstein was the biographer of our first abbot, and formerly worked to preserve and organize the abbey’s historical record. Trained in Intellectual History, he has written extensively for scholarly journals, was book editor of the monastic periodical Cistercian Studies Quarterly, and has been a calligrapher for Catholic Worker. Father Paschal was born in Tennessee and lived in Connecticut before coming to Belmont. He has consulted in works of public broadcasting (both radio and television). The encyclopedia of monasticism that was published in 2000 empoyed him as an author and member of the board.

In paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.

Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.