Anthony Joseph Schuler

Anthony Joseph Schuler (September 20, 1869 – June 3, 1944) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. A member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), he served as the first bishop of El Paso in Texas and New Mexico from 1915 to 1942.

Biography Early life and education Schuler was born on September 20, 1869, in St. Marys, Pennsylvania. He was the eldest of four children of Joseph and Albertina (née Algaier) Schuler, both immigrants from Oberprechtal in Germany. In 1876, the family moved to Georgetown, Colorado, where Schuler's father worked in the gold mines of Chicago Creek.

After his father died in a mining accident in 1883, Schuler was mentored by his local Catholic priest, Reverend Nicholas Chrysostom Matz. Schuler later recalled that he, "became a father to me in every way." When the archdiocese assigned Matz to a Denver parish in 1885, Schuler moved there also.

After hearing a sermon from Reverend Arnold Damen, a prominent Jesuit missionary, Schuler decided to join the order. He studied at St. Stanislaus and Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. In1893, Schuler was appointed to the faculty of Sacred Heart College (now Regis University) in Denver. He remained there for five years, then moved to Woodstock College in Woodstock, Maryland, to complete his theological studies.

Priesthood While at Woodstock, Schuler was ordained a priest for the Jesuits on June 27, 1901, by Cardinal Sebastiano Martinelli, the Apostolic Delegate to the United States.

Schuler professed his final vows as a Jesuit on March 25, 1908.

Bishop of El Paso On June 17, 1915, Schuler was named the first bishop of El Paso by Pope Benedict XV. Rome accepted Brown's resignation and selected Schuler instead.

Schuler received his episcopal consecration on October 28, 1915, from Archbishop John Baptist Pitaval, with Bishops Patrick A. McGovern and Henry Regis Granjon serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Denver.

On November 11, 1915, Schuler was installed at Immaculate Conception Church in El Paso. At the beginning of Schuler's tenure in 1915, the diocese contained 31 priests, 22 parishes, 58 missions, nine parochial schools, and three academies to serve 64,440 Catholics. By the end of Schuler's tenure 27 years later in 1942, there was a Catholic population of 121,854, as well as 118 priests, 49 parishes, 97 missions, 12 parochial schools, and five academies.

With Immaculate Conception Church being too small to accommodate the growing congregation, Schuler laid the cornerstone of a new cathedral in El Paso on November 12, 1916. The Cathedral of St. Patrick was officially dedicated on November 29, 1917. During the Mexican Revolution of 1910 to 1920, Schuler provided refuge in the diocese for the many Catholic clergy and religious orders who fled persecution in Mexico.

Described as a "liberal" by the El Paso Times, Schuler was known to be tolerant of other faiths; speakers at the 1936 celebration of his 50 years as a Jesuit included the Episcopal bishop Frederick Bingham Howden and the Jewish rabbi Martin Zielonka. He also declared there was "no harm" in betting on horse racing, saying, "It is not a sin in itself, the sin lying in the abuse of it." With a successor in place, Schuler announced his resignation as bishop of El Paso on November 22, 1942. He received the honorary title of titular bishop of Aradus on November 29th from Pope Pius XII.

Schuler spent his retirement at Regis University, where he died on June 3, 1944, at age 74. He was originally buried at Concordia Cemetery in El Paso, but his remains were later moved to Mount Carmel Cemetery of the same city in 1983.