FOURTH DEGREE PROGRAM HISTORY
The Chalice Club began at a meeting of the Cardinal Glennon Assembly at Bloomsdale, Missouri on July 19, 1948.
Father Ralph Kutz, then Chancellor of the Jefferson City Diocese, headed by Bishop Joseph M. Marling, proposed a chalice be inscribed with the name of the deceased fourth degree member, and the inscribed chalice be sent to the mission fields in the memory of the Brother Sir Knight.
Father Joseph Little concurred with the proposal and seconded the motion of Father Kutz. Rapidly the Chalice Dedication was adopted by other assemblies, until eventually it became the practice of Fourth Degree Assemblies throughout the Order.
The inscribed chalices are provided to priests all over the world, including, but not limited to, Archdiocesan priests, Franciscans, Jesuits, Maryknolls, Vincentians, Redemptorists, Society of Mary, Holy Family Fathers, Missionaires of St. Francis DeSales, Montfort Fathers, Chaplains at hospitals, convents, penal institutions and to motor missions. This recalls only a few of the many priests throughout the world who remember our deceased Brother Sir Knights, while celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
We look with great satisfaction on a tradition begun in Missouri almost sixty years ago. We are ever grateful to Father, later Monsignor Ralph Kutz and Fr. Joseph Little for our impressive custom. The late Monsignor Kutz has an assembly named after him, the Monsignor Ralph Kutz Assembly 2811, located in Westphalia, Missouri. Bishop Joseph M. Marling Assembly 2111, located in Camdenton, Missouri, is titled after the late Bishop.
During the past eighteen years, the St. Louis Assembly #565, under the guidance of Sir Knight Ken Thrash (deceased) and Sir Knights Ralph Fick and Bill Chrenka, has presented 725 chalices or ciboriums, in memory of our deceased Brother Sir Knights.
September 2007