By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Msgr. Amann

DELHI TWP. - Monsignor Robert A. Amann, pastor of St. Peter in Chains Cathedral from 1970 to 1976 and former assistant chancellor as well as notary and judge for the Tribunal for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, died Sunday at Western Hills Retirement Village. He was 78.

"He was extremely generous in both his spiritual counseling and also financially to seminarians," said his nephew, Dick Pike of Dayton, Ohio.

Msgr. Amann was born in Dayton in 1925 and studied at St. Gregory and Mount St. Mary of the West seminaries before receiving a bachelor's degree from the Athenaeum of Ohio.

He was ordained by Bishop George Rehring in 1950.

In 1951, Msgr. Amann served as associate pastor at Holy Family Parish in Price Hill and taught Spanish at Elder High School.

"He was fluent in five languages," his nephew said.

The following year, Msgr. Amann served as assistant to the chancellor and associate pastor at St. Louis Parish.

He traveled to Rome to study at Angelicum University, where he received a degree in Sacred Theology and a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Lateran University.

Upon his return from Rome, he resumed his assignment at St. Louis and served the Tribunal - sometimes as judge - for 40 years.

Msgr. Amann was appointed to the advisory board of the Archdiocesan Vocation Endeavor in 1961 and to the advisory board of the Cursillo Movement in 1964.

Pope Paul VI named him papal chamberlain in 1968.

He was pastor at St. Peter in Chains from 1970 to 1976, before he became pastor at St. Helen Parish in Dayton. In 1983 he was pastor of the former Holy Angels Parish in O'Bryonville.

Msgr. Amann retired in 1999.

Reception of the body is 9 a.m. Friday at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral, downtown, followed by Mass of Christian burial at 11 a.m. Burial is at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Montgomery.

Memorials: St. Mary of the West Seminary or tuition assistance in the Catholic Education Program, Archdiocese of Cincinnati, 100 E. Eighth St., Cincinnati, OH 45202.

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com