Monsignor Edward Miller, longtime pastor of St. Bernardine Catholic Church in West Baltimore, died unexpectedly yesterday at age 68. Monsignor Miller, who led the parish for nearly 40 years, was found unconscious in the parish rectory yesterday morning having suffered an apparent heart attack. He was later pronounced dead at St. Agnes Hospital.
Archbishop William E. Lori, Archbishop of Baltimore, and Bishop Denis J. Madden, Auxiliary Bishop, addressed the shocked and grieving parishioners at St. Bernardine’s at the parish’s 11:30 a.m. Mass Sunday.
“The death of Monsignor Miller is a tremendous loss for the Archdiocese, for the people of St. Bernardine’s, and for the Catholic Church in Baltimore City,” Archbishop Lori said. “Monsignor Miller was wholly committed to the mission of evangelization, to bringing others closer to Christ, and spent 42 years of his life doing just that in West Baltimore.”
Monsignor Miller was ordained to the priesthood in 1971 and served for three years at St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Park Heights before he was assigned to St. Bernardine’s in 1975. He was appointed pastor of the parish in 1980 and created a Chaplain to His Holiness with the title of “Monsignor” in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI.
A viewing will take place on Wednesday, December 18 from 3-7 p.m., followed by a wake service, St. Bernardine Catholic Church, 3800 Edmondson Ave. Archbishop William E. Lori will celebrate the Mass of Christian Burial at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on Thursday, December 19 at 11 a.m.