Perryville woman dedicates her life to the Church through vocation as a consecrated virgin
In the last few months, Amber Buchheit distinctly heard the Lord speaking a word to her as she walked up to receive Communion at Mass.
“Soon.”
Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski placed a ring on Amber Buchheit’s finger designating her as a bride of Christ during her Mass of Consecration as a virgin living in the world Aug. 22 at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis. As a consecrated virgin, one of several forms of consecrated life recognized by the Church, Amber gives the gift of her spiritual, psychological and physical virginity to God and enters into a spousal relationship with Him.
Soon, she would take Christ as her spouse. And she was ready. On a Thursday morning in August before family and friends, Amber walked down the aisle of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, dressed in a floor-length lace wedding gown, where she made a public vow of consecration as a virgin living in the world, one of several forms of consecrated life recognized by the Church. Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski presided at the Aug. 22 Mass, the memorial of the Queenship of Mary.
On the day of her consecration, Amber felt a profound moment of peace — that this was the vocation to which the Lord was calling her.
“The music starts, and there’s this overwhelming sense of peace and calm,” she said. “It’s exciting and I’m like, this is it — that commitment and the moment that I’ve been waiting for. In this vocation, you receive and receive and receive — it’s everything that the Lord is is giving you. And now that you’ve received, you have to use that and let the Lord work through you.”
The 38-year-old emergency room nurse from Perryville was introduced to consecrated virginity through a seminarian friend who later went on to become a priest. She had thought about religious life but felt that God wasn’t calling her to that vocation, said the member of the Oratory of Sts. Gregory and Augustine.
Consecrated virgins give the gift of their spiritual, psychological and physical virginity to God and enter into a spousal relationship with Him. It is one of five forms of consecrated life recognized by the Church’s Code of Canon Law. It’s also one of the Church’s oldest vocations, with the virgin martyrs of the Roman Empire, including St. Agnes and St. Lucy, among the first consecrated virgins. In 1970, the Church reintroduced the rite of consecration of virgins.
Under the direction of a diocesan bishop, consecrated virgins live financially independent lives. They are consecrated in the same way as a woman religious, but the primary distinction is that they do not live in a religious community. Consecrated virgins also dedicate their lives to praying for priests and the needs of the Church, with a particular dedication to praying the Liturgy of the Hours.
At the Mass of Consecration, Amber declared her willingness to undertake the responsibilities as a consecrated virgin. During the Litany of Supplication, also known as the Litany of Saints, she lay prostrate on the floor of the sanctuary of the cathedral basilica, while the congregation prayed for the intercession of the saints for God’s grace and mercy for her. Afterward, she knelt before the archbishop and he recited the prayer of consecration.
Amber Buchheit processed from the cathedral basilica at the conclusion of the Mass. Following Amber were her attendants, Karen Bromeier, a parishioner at Holy Infant in Ballwin, and Loree Nauertz, a parishioner at St. Francis de Sales in Spooner, Wisconsin.
During the Mass, Amber also received a breviary, a book of prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours; a veil, which symbolizes that she has been chosen from other women to be dedicated to the service of Christ and the Church; and a ring, which designates her as a bride of Christ.
While our culture tends to look for miracles that are spectacular, Archbishop Rozanski said in his homily, the miraculous can be found in the quiet miracles of everyday life, noting Amber’s consecration as an example.
“We see the miracle of God’s call to Amber, to consecrate herself totally to Him, to build up God’s kingdom here on earth by taking for her bridegroom Christ the Lord and savior,” he said. “It is a call that is indeed miraculous, for it is the presence of God at work through Amber in being able to dedicate her life to the Lord, in telling the Lord that there is nothing on earth that can replace Him.”
Amber said she was drawn to the spousal and spiritual motherhood aspects of consecrated virginity. As an emergency room nurse who works a late-night shift, she said, “what else is a mother going to do for her children, but stay up all night and take care of them when they’re sick and hurt?”
Her patients won’t necessarily know she’s a consecrated virgin, she said. “They’re just going to know me as Amber and that I’m their nurse. It’s meeting people where they’re at. You get to be a part of their lives for that moment and ‘mother’ them. But it’s more than just a body in a bed. They have a body and they have a soul. They’re a human being, made and loved by God. I try to see — for better or for worse sometimes — that Christlike aspect in them.”
Friends and family have been supportive of her vocation, including several consecrated virgins that she befriended while going through her formation, coordinated by the archdiocesan Office of Consecrated Life. One of them was Cathy Maley, who was the first woman to be publicly consecrated in the Archdiocese of St. Louis in 2006.
As a consecrated virgin, “you have a grace there that enables you to do so much more than you could even imagine and expands you as a person,” said Cathy, who attended Amber’s consecration Mass. “We witness to the spousal love of the Church, just like (a husband and wife) in marriage.”
Amber’s parents, Donald and Kristy, who also witnessed the special day, said that they’re happy their daughter has answered God’s call. “She’s going to be living her life for God,” Kristy Buchheit said. “She gets the best of all worlds,” with her vocation and work as a nurse.
Every Catholic has a vocation to live their baptismal call, Amber said. “You’re called to love and serve God, but then your specific vocation — married life, priesthood, religious life, consecrated virgin, hermit or a secular institute, whatever it is — how am I specifically going to know, love and serve God in this life?”
>> Consecrated virginity
The consecrated virgin is a sacred person in the Church, who gives the gift of their spiritual, psychological and physical virginity to God and enter into a spousal relationship with Him. (Because of the spousal nature of the vocation, this is why men do not become consecrated virgins.)
A consecrated virgin dedicates herself to works of penance and of mercy, in apostolic activity and in prayer, in accord with her state of life and spiritual gifts. She makes a commitment to praying the Liturgy of the Hours daily, and particularly prays for priests and the needs of the Church.
Under the direction of a diocesan bishop, consecrated virgins live financially independent lives. They are consecrated in the same way as a woman religious, but the primary distinction is that they do not live in a religious community.
>> What is consecrated life?
Consecrated life is a permanent state of life recognized by the Church, entered freely in response to the call of Christ to the perfection of love and characterized by the making of public vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The word consecrated means “to make holy” and is a response to God’s call to participate in His holiness.
>> Consecrated virgins in the world
There are approximately 5,000 consecrated virgins throughout the world, including more than 300 in the United States, according to the United States Association of Consecrated Virgins. The first woman in St. Louis to be publicly consecrated as a virgin was Cathy Maley in 2006.
