About 50 people gathered at Holy Rosary in Minneapolis after learning their friend and the parish’s music minister, César Cruz, died after being stricken by COVID-19 while visiting family in Guatemala.

“I can see in their faces a huge sorrow,” said Juan Cuzco, the parish’s director of religious education, recalling that first day May 4 of a novena for Cruz — a Latin American tradition of praying a rosary for nine days “for the rest of his soul.”

Cruz, 48, diagnosed with and treated for COVID-19 while in Guatemala, died in a hospital there May 3. He had served as a volunteer in music and youth ministry, and as an employee in several parishes at various times in the archdiocese. He flew to Guatemala to be with family members during Holy Week — relatives he hadn’t seen in several years.

Tammy Krause Cruz said she met her future husband when she was in her mid-20s visiting Guatemala as a lay Claretian missionary, and César was an accounting student. “He was a musician and I was in charge of finding music for the Masses,” she said. “I would enlist his help with several different groups.” Their paths also crossed when she translated letters there for a Christian foundation.

One thing Krause Cruz loved about her husband was his outgoing nature. “He could command a crowd,” she said. “A lot of it was he was a musician, but a lot of it was because of his personality and he could tell jokes.”

The couple married in Guatemala and moved to the United States when Tammy was expecting their first child, Ellie, now 23. They also have two sons, Marco, 18, and Lucas, 17.

“He left his family, he left his friends,” Krause Cruz said of her husband’s decision to live in the U.S. “He left his career because being an accountant in Guatemala is totally different than in the United States.” Her husband’s initial work in Minnesota ranged from painting houses to working at Spanish immersion schools.

Cruz worked with a youth group at Holy Rosary and encouraged members to stay in the Church, Cuzco said. Cruz was charismatic and had many gifts. “He would tell us to see our challenges with others’ eyes,” to understand the other person’s point of view, he said.

Cuzco said Cruz was humble, open to suggestions about his music without taking offense, and “always available.” One of the busiest people Cuzco knew, Cruz always agreed to help with something else.

Cuzco said Cruz played music at one weekday Mass and three on the weekend. He could play 10 instruments, he said. “He was very gifted. He had great joy to be a child of God.”

Anne Attea, pastoral associate at Ascension in Minneapolis, has known Cruz since 1998, when he volunteered there with music and later was hired to work in music ministry and coordinate faith formation. He was the musician at that time for Ascension’s 11:30 a.m. Spanish Mass, she said.

“When I was the director of Latino ministry for the archdiocese, I worked with him in those early years, and always appreciated his really just joyful presence, his love for the music,” Attea said. “He’s accompanied … many, many, special events over the years.

“He was just a wonderful person who was always seeking to bring out the best in people,” Attea said. “From folks I know at Holy Rosary, he was always willing to go that extra mile for the kids in his group. He was someone who was including kids who others thought might be a problem. And there never was a problem that seemed too daunting for him.”

Attea said Cruz not only served in youth ministry, but he prepared young people to continue to be involved in the Church. “And he would incorporate them in peer ministry,” she said. “He always wished to put his gifts at the service of the community. He had a great love for music, for ministry, for people.”

Krause Cruz said her husband served a number of parishes in the archdiocese and “they were so wonderful to him.”

“He helped the parishes,” she said, “but as an immigrant to this country trying to feel like he belongs, there were so many people on the way that just grabbed his little heart and communicated with him and made him feel special. And that helped on the home front, too, because he felt needed.”

Ginger Graham, parish administrator at Holy Rosary and executive director for its outreach center, Centro Guadalupano, said Cruz worked for the parish for 10 years, but was part of the community and performing music for more than 20 years. In addition to music, he served in worship and faith programs, she said.

“He had a tremendous impact on our youth in particular,” Graham said, “just in our families in general, leading faith programs, leading music programs and helping them build love and faith in the community.”

A funeral Mass for Cruz will be at 7 p.m. May 12 at Holy Rosary. COVID restrictions will limit in-person attendance, but the Mass will be livestreamed from the parish’s Facebook page.