- Last words of Chaplain Schmitt
Today is the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japanese aircraft.
Among the 2,388 Americans who died during the attack in 1941, was the first U.S. Roman Catholic chaplain to be killed in action.
Fr. Aloysius Schmitt was a 32-year-old priest from Dubuque, Iowa. He had just celebrated Mass on December 7, his last service on board the USS Oklahoma before he was to be transferred to duty on shore. When the bombs hit the Oklahoma, Fr. Schmitt ministered to the wounded and dying. After the call came to abandon ship, the young priest helped men squeeze through the porthole to safety. When he tried to get out, some of his ecclesiastical gear (perhaps his breviary) got caught and couldn't get through. He told the other men to pull him back into the ship so that others could escape.
The next day, December 8, would have been the sixth anniversary of Fr. Schmitt's ordination.
Fr. Schmitt's chalice was eventually recovered from the Oklahoma, and was presented to his alma mater, Loras College in Dubuque.
- Little Blue Book, Diocese of Saginaw