Funeral Mass for
Fr. George Mattioni, O.A.R.
August 25, 2006

Readings: Lamentations 3: 17-26
Romans 6: 3-9
John 6: 51-58

The Funeral Mass for the deceased Christian in the Catholic tradition is initiated with a simple yet profound recollection of the Sacrament of Baptism. It is as if the deceased and those who accompany him in this final rite of commitment of his mortal remains are returned to the beginning hours of George Mattioni’s life. Through Baptism, he was prepared for this moment, the time of his transition from time-bound existence to that of another realm, that of eternity. He had lived for this awesome moment and we who remain can but speculate in our minds and hearts what this defining experience must be like.

The coffin of our brother, George, was sprinkled with holy water, a gesture accompanied by the words of the priest that “in the waters of baptism George died with Christ and rose with him to new life”. Think then of these words and the depth contained therein. There was indeed a previous “dying” even then in that far off year of 1921 when Louis and Theresa Mattioni did what good Catholic parents have always done: they carried their new-born to the sanctuary of their parish church. There, he was purified in the waters of baptism and he “died with Christ”, as the ritual says. St. Paul says it well in his Letter to the Romans. “We were indeed buried with (Christ) through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life”. As a result of Baptism, little George set off on the path leading to “newness of life”, creating page by page a personal story of salvation history. He had been oriented in the right direction by means of that incredible gift which is Baptism. We wish to acknowledge the presence of the descendents of that Missouri faith family present with us today.

He would live out, in response to the inner urgings of the Holy Spirit, the triple ministry commended to him in Baptism, that is, he, too would be part of the priestly, prophetic and kingly mission of Jesus. Within the possibilities of responding to these promptings of the Spirit was that of the consecrated life; he would accept the offer of Jesus which the rich young man of the Gospels turned down, saddened by the burden of his wealth. Recently separated from the military (he belonged to the World War II generation), he entered the novitiate of the Order of Augustinian Recollects in Kansas City, Kansas. It was the beginning of a dedication of more than 60 years as a member of this religious family. And, again, the Spirit of the Lord, always leading the generous heart, moved him to the priesthood and, so it was that George Mattioni, on May 9, 1953, in this very church of the Sacred Heart in Suffern, was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop James Griffths of the New York Archdiocese.

As an Augustinian Recollect priest, Fr. George belonged to the itinerant priesthood of the mendicant tradition. His ministries were many and geographically disperse; he seemed to be always available to go where sent in response to the needs of the Church. The list is long: Santo Domingo, Topeka, Kansas, Kansas City, Kansas, Newark, New Jersey, Lamont and Bakersfield in California, but his longest and most stable ministry was that of the chaplaincy in Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, more than 20 years of service. And people would say, “do you remember that priest with the Snoopy drawings?” Just as the practical and street-wise Snoopy could break through Charlie Brown’s downers, Fr. George recognized that what a patient in the hospital really needed many times was a dose of humor, a smile in the midst of discomfort. He collected jokes and seemed to have one for every day and he incorporated the same in those short, well-prepared homilies which he preached in the hospital and in the convents of the area where he would often celebrate the Eucharist. George was comfortable with hospital people, with the local police, and the firemen; he appreciated the vocations of our civic protectors and volunteers.

Like the rest of us, George could identify with the complaints of the author of the Book of Lamentations. From time to time, he was under a cloud, his soul being “downcast within him”. The physical deficits took their toll but, at the same time, he found support in the same text which assured him that “the mercies of the Lord are not spent – they are renewed each morning”. He seemed to know how to share the “ups and downs” of life, a good reason why he was solicited by so many – including clerics—as a confessor. He liked to say, after one confessed his sins, now tell me the good things you have done.

There are many stories to tell about George Mattioni and, to be sure, he also had many stories to tell. In the midst of it all, however, he was true to his faith, faithful to his vows and loyal to the Sacrament of the Eucharist which daily renewed in him the promises of that long-ago Baptism “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day”. For George Mattioni, this day has come.

Fr. John J. Oldfield, O.A.R.

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