Fr. Hilary Rosenfeld ( 1866-1926)

Father Hilary Rosenfeld passed away July 23, 1926.

The son of a Jewish Rabbi, Benjamin Rosenfeld was born in Austria in 1866.  He studied to be a rabbi and served three years in that ministry. The First Mass of the son of his Catholic housekeeper moved him to join the Catholic Church.  After being confirmed in the chapel of the bishop of Ratisbon, Germany, he traveled to the United States, entered St. Benedict’s Abbey, and offered his First Mass Christmas Day at St. Peter’s, Council Bluffs, Iowa.

His ministry as a monk consisted of parish work and hospital chaplaincies.  There is a long account of his life in The Catholic Tribune, Dubuque, Iowa, published under the heading, “From the Synagogue to the Baptismal Font.”

Father Hilary died in Burlington, Iowa, during one of his assignments there.  “He suffered from diabetes for over a year and a half before his death.”