NOVEMBER 10
On this day, our confrere, Father Wilfrid Lambertz, OSB, died at the abbey while taking part in our customary Thursday evening agape. We had just come from celebrating the Eucharist and were enjoying a social in the community recreation room before dinner. Sitting at a table with several confreres, Father Wilfrid suddenly fell from his chair and onto the floor. Efforts were made to resuscitate him, but without any success.
      Father Wilfrid was born in Urbank, Minnesota on May 19, 1927. Near the end of World War II, he joined the Marines and served in China. Returning to the United States, he attended the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Soon after graduating from there, he came to Blue Cloud Abbey. He entered the novitiate in 1953 and made vows the following year. His ordination to the priesthood took place in the spring of 1958. Then for six months he was assigned to St. Paul’s Mission on the Yankton Reservation here in South Dakota.
      Most of his work among the Indian people, however, took place on North Dakota reservations. He was the mission superior at St. Michaels from 1974 until 1978 and served as the superior at St. Ann’s twice: from 1972 until 1974 and again between 1978 and 1987. In 1962, Father Wilfrid assisted the monks of Assumption Abbey, Richardton, North Dakota at their foundation in Bogota, Colombia. This prepared him to assume the role of prior when we made a foundation in Coban, Guatemala. He was assigned to Resurrection Priory from 1964 until 1972, and he was the prior once more in Guatemala from 1987 until 1989. In 1991 Father Wilfrid was named the administrator of Blue Cloud Abbey. Among the community members he seemed a likely candidate for the abbatial office, but he pleaded not to be considered one when it came time for an election a year later.
Father Wilfrid was the pastor of St. Lawrence’s Church in nearby Milbank two different times: from 1990 until 1991 and from 2002 to 2004. For several years, he was our vocation director. At the time of his death, he was the chaplain of St. William’s Nursing Home in Milbank and the pastor of St. Charles Church, Big Stone City, South Dakota.
      Father Wilfrid was gregarious and gracious. The people in the many different places where he served as a priest liked him a lot. And so did people who were not parishioners. He liked being with people, and he liked traveling to be with them. A trip was never a burden for him. Although his death occurred as a terrible shock to our community, he died celebrating with his confreres. It was a comfortable setting for his departure from this life.