Bishops, priests and others in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis recalled Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s gifts for theology, Scripture, doctrinal clarity and music, as well as his profound humility and concern for the Church.

“He’s a man of such virtue, always striving to do what was right,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda told Fox 9 KMSP in Eden Prairie from Florida, where he was visiting family, shortly after learning of Pope Benedict’s death. “I was certainly, personally saddened by the news, yet at the same time I gave thanks to God for a life that was so well lived.”

The retired pope died Dec. 31 at age 95, in his residence at the Vatican. Pope Francis, who sought prayers for the late pope in the days before his death, was scheduled to celebrate his predecessor’s funeral Jan. 5 in St. Peter’s Square. Pope Benedict was given the anointing of the sick Dec. 28.

One sign of the late pope’s humility, observers said, was his decision in 2013 to resign, the first pope to do so in almost 600 years, to what he said would be a life of prayer and study.

Archbishop Hebda said he met and worked with then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict, many times over the years in Rome, first as a seminarian and later working in the Vatican as a young priest.

As a seminarian, the archbishop said, when he visited Bavarian restaurants with friends, they would sometimes see Cardinal Ratzinger and order him a stein of beer. “He was always very grateful,” the archbishop said. It was also Pope Benedict who named him as a bishop, the archbishop said.

Among other attributes, the late pope will be remembered for his strong morality, doctrinal clarity and personal kindness, Archbishop Hebda said.

The archbishop plans to preside at a Mass for the repose of Pope Benedict’s soul at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 4 at the Cathedral of St Paul in St. Paul. At the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, vespers were planned for 3 p.m. Jan. 1, on the solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.The Basilica also plans a requiem Mass at noon Jan. 5, in the St. Joseph Chapel, officials said.

As people responded to the Dec. 31 death of Pope Benedict, a tribute to the late pope was placed in St. Joseph church in West St. Paul, with a photo and an inscription quoting Pope Benedict that read in part, “The source of Christian joy is the certainty of being loved by God, loved personally by our Creator.”

Reaction to the pope’s death came quickly, with Father Joseph Taphorn, rector and vice president of The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, noting sadness but also the opportunity to celebrate the ministry of Pope Benedict, which he said will be felt for generations.

“We thank our Heavenly Father for a Holy Father who staunchly upheld and articulated the teachings of the Catholic faith, empowering scores of priests, deacons and lay leaders to proclaim the Good News throughout the world,” Father Taphorn said in a statement. “We are particularly indebted to Pope Benedict for his influence on seminary formation and emphasis on nurturing joyful, holy, healthy priests. Pope Emeritus Benedict should also be remembered as a faithful successor to St. Peter who encouraged and affirmed Catholics seeking to grow and share their faith in an increasingly post-Christian society,” Father Taphorn said.

“We are confident of the power of the Lord’s grace in his life and pray that he may now hear these words spoken to him in eternity: ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. . . Come, share your master’s joy’ (Mt. 25:23),” Father Taphorn said in his statement.

Archbishop Hebda, later in a statement, said he was in St. Peter’s Square when Cardinal Ratzinger was elected as successor of St. Peter. “I had already personally experienced his exceptional kindness and had long admired his world-class intellect but my love and respect for him grew as the world came to know him as a humble and selfless shepherd, with a unique gift for proclaiming the truth with love,” the archbishop said.

Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Williams said he was saddened to hear of the passing of Pope Benedict, but rejoices at the gift his life was to the Church. “Few things in this world have given me greater delight than meditating on his writings,” Bishop Williams said in a statement. “Together, we owe a debt of gratitude to Jesus for gifting us this faithful ‘coworker in the truth.’ May he rest now for all his labors in the house of the Father.”

Both of the bishops’ statements can be read at archspm.org/statements.

In the days leading up to Pope Benedict’s death, Jeff Cavins, director emeritus of the seminary’s Archbishop Flynn Catechetical Institute and an author, creator of the Great Adventure Bible Study Series and the Bible in a Year podcast with Father Mike Schmitz, recalled meeting then-Cardinal Ratzinger in 2005, shortly before he became pope, outside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.

“I greeted him briefly,” Cavins said, and the late pope asked questions of him, speaking quietly and with great attention. The late pope was blessed with humility as well as profound theological and scriptural insights, Cavins said.

Bishop Emeritus Richard Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, met Pope Benedict in 1984 while serving as rector of St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul at the University of St. Thomas. Then Cardinal Ratzinger, he accepted an invitation by Archbishop John Roach to come to Minnesota to celebrate the 15th anniversary of St. John Vianney and to receive an honorary doctoral degree from St. Thomas.

The cardinal was making a visit to Texas, and Bishop Pates suggested to Archbishop Roach that he ask him to come to Minnesota. To both their surprise, Cardinal Ratzinger accepted the invitation and spent three days at SJV, including a Monday morning talk given to a packed auditorium full of college students. Bishop Pates especially remembers what happened immediately after the talk, when Msgr. Terrence Murphy, president of St. Thomas at the time, presented the cardinal with the honorary doctorate.

“He (Ratzinger) took it and marched from one end of the stage to the other, just holding this up for people to see,” said Bishop Pates, who is now living in the Twin Cities. “That’s a typical practice of the Germans. That’s what they do because they find it so significant.”

The cardinal still remembered that moment nearly two decades later, when Bishop Pates went to the Vatican with Archbishop Harry Flynn, who was serving as the leader of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis when the two made an ad limina visit to Rome and met with Pope St. John Paul II. During their visit, not long after Bishop Pates’ episcopal ordination in 2001 as an auxiliary bishop for St. Paul and Minneapolis, they met with Cardinal Ratzinger, who recalled vividly his experience at St. Thomas, when the students yelled and cheered while he walked on the stage with his honorary doctoral degree.

Bishop Pates saw in those encounters a warmth in Cardinal Ratzinger that stood in contrast to the stoic image many had of the cardinal and future pope. Another attribute Bishop Pates noticed was the cardinal’s musical talent. During the 1984 visit, Bishop Pates was invited to a Saturday evening dinner at Archbishop Roach’s residence featuring Cardinal Ratzinger. Upon entering, Bishop Pates heard piano music coming from one of the rooms inside. Moments later, he entered that room and saw the cardinal seated at a grand piano playing classical music.

“It was a beautiful Mozart (piece),” Bishop Pates recalled. “I said to Archbishop Roach, ‘You don’t hear that very often here. … He was the equivalent of a concert pianist. He was good.”

Bishop Pates described Pope Benedict XVI as “very reserved, very quiet,” but also very engaging. “He had a great sensitivity,” Bishop Pates said. “He listened very carefully, and he smiled when he talked to you.”

Cavins said Pope Benedict’s gifts to the Church, through his theological and scriptural insights, need to be seen in the context of the wider Church, including St. John Paul II preceding him with a gift for philosophy and Pope Francis succeeding him and taking the faith to the streets, rolling up his sleeves to serve those on the margins.

“St. John Paul II and Benedict were the one-two punch the Church needed, and one we may never see again,” Cavins said.

Pope Benedict knew who he was, in honest humility, with God and among people, Cavins said. “He was honest enough to say, ‘my time has come,'” when he retired as pope, Cavins said.

Pope Benedict “was an expert and a master at going back into the Old Testament and showing how Jesus fulfilled every aspect of Israel’s journey with the Lord,” Cavins said. The late pope’s book, “Jesus of Nazareth,” was an example of his profundity, he said.

“He understood the deep truths of the Church,” Cavins said.