“Brother” Gregory Wietrzychowski (pronounced- more or less- as he used to joke: “Watch your house key!”) was a good, simple soul who loved God and loved God’s people. He spent the better part of the last five years of his life as a pilgrim, walking the face of the United States, praying for the world and for the Church. He was a man sincere in his efforts to please and serve God. That, for the most part, is all that one needs to know about Brother Gregory. It is, perhaps,  all he would really wish us to know.

     But Gregory also had an amazing talent: the gift of art! He was a painter of rare ability, specializing in the reproduction of Renaissance masterpieces. He lived the last few years of his full and interesting life in a remote town of eastern Oklahoma, working on perhaps his greatest masterpiece: a reproduction of the famous Ghent Altarpiece by the Renaissance painter Jan van Eyck!, now housed- unfinished- in the great Benedictine Monastery of Our Lady of Clear Creek.

      On April 21st of this year, Gregory left the Monastery- on foot, of course- for what would be his last pilgrimage. He felt called to exhort all Christians to forgive their enemies from the heart. A timely message, indeed, for this world in our days. By late August, Gregory had made it all the way up to Marquette, Michigan with his message. There he lingered for a time, befriending a kindly man of kindred spirit who cared for Gregory while he prepared himself for the final leg of his journey......a final leg, unforeseen......

    On October 13, Gregory was admitted to the hospital in Michigan after having contracted COVID-19. He then contracted COVID pneumonia, followed by bacterial pneumonia, his condition worsening day by day.  Eventually,  Brother Gregory’s tired body could no longer sustain the battle well fought by his soul, and on November 2,  the Catholic Feast of All-Souls, our good Brother Gregory passed from this life, eagerly and hopefully awaiting God’s final judgement on his life’s work in faith. 
     Brother Gregory, though rich in talent and other God-given gifts of character, remained poor as the world reckons wealth. He left no money and very few belongings: his Bible, his rosary beads....his walking stick....what more does one need, after all? And so, those of us who knew him and loved him in Christ, must bury him in the earth, to await the Resurrection on the Last Day.
     The funds will be used for all expenses needed for a burial and funeral: embalming, transport of his remains from Marquette, Michigan to Hulbert, Oklahoma, funeral home services,  a casket, burial plot and engraved headstone, funeral rites. From any remaining funds, I plan to see to the completion of Brother Gregory’s masterpiece, the Ghent Altarpiece.
     I, Mark Byerly, a grateful, though unworthy, friend, who was appointed by Gregory as his medical proxy and executor, will see to the completion of all this, with God’s help.

     Eternal Rest, grant unto him, O Lord; and let Perpetual Light shine upon him....
     Fare well, Gregory, our Brother, fare well..... and go in Christ’s Peace.....