Fr. Edward Schmitz (1893-1978)

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Father Edward was the younger brother of Father Sylvester Schmitz, and followed him to St. Benedict’s in 1907.  He made his first vows August 10, 1914, as World War I was starting.  After continued studies at St. Benedict’s College he was ordained June 24, 1920.  He earned a master’s degree in Latin from the University of Iowa in 1928.  After teaching at St. Benedict’s High School, Maur Hill and St. Benedict’s College, until 1943, he was a professor on loan to Belmont Abbey College 1943-44. 

He began several years of pastoral ministry in 1944 as an assistant at Burlington, Iowa, and at St. Benedict’s, Atchison, until 1952 when he returned to Nemaha County as an assistant pastor at Sts. Peter and Paul, Seneca, and sometime Seneca Hospital chaplain, until 1972.  Ill health brought about his return to the abbey in 1972.

Father Edward was a punster who, when asked how he was doing on a given day, replied, “Magnolius!”  He loved to play bridge and seemed willing to go to any lengths to find a foursome, daily if possible.  He was a poet of some repute and once wrote “An Ode to Kansas” that was presented to President Dwight Eisenhower.

He also wrote a poem, “Babe Ruth, Home Run King” in which each letter of the title began a line of the poem so that the left margin spelled out the title!  To this day the Schmitz brothers are beloved of their many relatives living at St. Benedict, many in what is fondly called, “Schmitzville.”  While Father Sylvester was nicknamed “The bear,” Edward was “the cub.”

Father Edward Schmitz passed away December 10, 1978.