On October 10, 2007, Msgr. R. Michael Schmitz, Vicar General of the Institute of Christ the King and Provincial Superior for the United States, celebrated the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the Holy Priesthood.

Monsignor Schmitz was ordained in Rome on October 10, 1982, by then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. From the Archdiocese of Cologne, he entered the German College in Rome in 1976 and pursued his seminary and graduate studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University, earning a Doctorate in Dogmatic Theology in 1988. Subsequently, in 1992, he received a Licentiate in Canon Law from Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. Pope John Paul II elevated him to the rank of Chaplain of His Holiness in 1998. Monsignor Schmitz is a member of the Academy of Theology in Rome since 1988 and a chaplain of the Sovereign Order of Malta.

A friend of the founders of the Institute of Christ the King, Monsignor Gilles Wach and Father Philippe Mora, Monsignor Schmitz collaborated with the Institute as visiting professor at its seminary, eventually founding its German Province. He was incardinated into the Institute in September 2000 and was appointed its Vicar General that same year, also taking on the responsbility of Provincial Superior for the United States.

Please keep Monsignor Michael Schmitz in your prayers, especially on October 10, the day of his Ordination, and October 11, the day of his first Holy Mass.