Sister Michelle (Irma) Schumacher, OSB
St. Joseph 

The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 4 p.m. on Tues., Sept.11, 2007, at the Sacred Heart Chapel, Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, for Sister Michelle Schumacher, who died on Thurs., Sept. 6, 2007, at Saint Scholastica Convent. Burial will be in the monastery cemetery. Friends may call at Saint Scholastica Convent on Mon., Sept. 10, from 1-6 p.m., or for a Prayer Vigil at 7 p.m. at Saint Benedict’s Monastery.  Visitation continues at 9 a.m. on Tues., Sept. 11, until the time of the funeral at 4 p.m.

S. Michelle (Irma) Schumacher was born April 20, 1926, to Gerhard and Clara (Wise) Schumacher near Beach, N.D. She attended public schools in Beach and Golva, N.D. When the family moved to St. Michael, Minn., she went to St. Michael’s Parochial School. After one year at Saint Benedict’s High School, Saint Joseph, she entered and graduated from St. Francis High School in Little Falls, Minn. Following five years of office work in Bismarck, N.D., and Minneapolis, she entered Saint Benedict’s Monastery on Sept. 5, 1949, made first monastic profession on July 11, 1951, and perpetual profession on July 11, 1954. 

S. Michelle earned a B.A. degree in elementary education at the College of Saint Benedict and a certificate for informational media from St. Cloud State University.

For 19 years, S. Michelle taught in grade schools in Sauk Centre, Maple Lake and Buckman, Minn., as well as in Anaconda, Mont. Then followed ten years as librarian for St. Cloud Parochial schools. For 13 years she worked in Clemens Library at the College of Saint Benedict, then served as receptionist at the Spirituality Center at Saint Benedict’s Monastery for the next 13 years. While at the college, she assisted with Adult Faith Formation (RCIA). In January 2007 S. Michelle retired at Saint Scholastica Convent where she continued her life of prayer and community living. 

S. Michelle is survived by the members of her Benedictine community, her brother John of Billings, Mont., and her sister, Lucille (Charles) Hammes, of Davis, Calif. Two sisters (Angeline Schaff and Leona Harn) are deceased.