Crosier Brother Leo Anthony Schoenberg, 92, died May 10 at the Mille Lacs Health System Long Term Care facility in Onamia. The Mass of Christian Burial will take place at 10 a.m. Wednesday, June 4, at the Crosier Priory in Onamia, with the Rite of Reception at 9 a.m., followed by the Office of the Dead at 9:30 a.m. (Morning Prayer). A luncheon will follow the Mass. A private inurnment is planned in the priory cemetery columbarium.
He was born March 30, 1933, in Spring Hill to William and Elenora (Braun) Schoenberg, one of their 11 children. He attended District 161 Spring Hill Township; Melrose High School and Crosier Seminary in Onamia. Brother Leo entered the Crosier novitiate in 1951, made his first profession of vows March 19, 1952, in Fort Wayne, Indiana; renewed his vows in 1955 and professed solemn vows in Onamia on March 19, 1958.
Many of his assignments centered around internal ministries as a member of the Crosier communities in Hastings, Nebraska, Fort Wayne and Onamia. Early on he worked at Sacred Heart Seminary in Fort Wayne and Our Lady of the Lake Seminary in Syracuse, Indiana. He ministered at the Crosier Seminary in Onamia from 1957 until his retirement in 2006. He moved into the memory care unit at Lake Song Assisted Living in November 2022.
Across his 55 years of ministry, he maintained Crosier facilities in a variety of ways: as a boiler room attendant, in janitorial services, as a groundskeeper and as head laundryman. He also managed the fleet of cars for the priory, tended to the lawns in summer and shoveled snow in winter.
He is survived by numerous in-laws, nieces, nephews and his Crosier confreres in Onamia and Phoenix and around the world. He is preceded in death by his parents and his siblings.
Memorials are preferred to the Crosier Fathers and Brothers, Box 500, Onamia, MN 56359-0500.