Father Nicholas Joseph Landsberger, 84, died May 26 at the St. Cloud Hospital. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday, June 1, at St. Mary’s Cathedral, St. Cloud, and will continue from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 2. A limited number of visitors will be allowed in the church at any one time with physical-distancing guidelines observed.
A private funeral service (which will be by invitation only) will be held Tuesday, June 2, at St. Mary’s Cathedral with Bishop Donald Kettler presiding. Burial will be in Assumption Cemetery in St. Cloud. A memorial Mass will be planned at a later date when the pandemic risks have lessened.
“He had a huge heart for people in need,” recalled Leah Schilling, who worked with Father Landsberger at Holy Family in Belle Prairie and St. Mary in Little Falls from 1999 to 2014, as a youth minister first and later a parish secretary. “He always listened to people and helped them if he could. He was a good pastor. People liked him. He loved doing baptisms and weddings and first Communions. He was good with the kids.
“Father Landsberger was such a good gardener. I admired his knowledge of plants and his green thumb. He started all his plants from seeds and planted a large garden in the back of St. Mary’s cemetery every year. He enjoyed giving away the vegetables, especially sweet corn.”
Father Landsberger was born Sept. 10, 1935, in St. Cloud, the son of Nicholas and Clara (Juenemann) Landsberger. He attended St. Mary’s Grade School in St. Cloud and St. Francis Minor Seminary high school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He received his seminary training at St. John’s Seminary, Collegeville, and Theological College, Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.
He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Peter Bartholome, at St. Mary’s Cathedral June 3, 1961. Father Landsberger celebrated his first Mass at Holy Spirit Church, St. Cloud, on June 4, 1961.
Father Landsberger served in the following pastoral assignments in the Diocese of St. Cloud: associate pastor, St. Joseph, Pierz; instructor, Cathedral High School, St. Cloud; pastor, St. John Nepomuk, Lastrup; pastor, St. Mary, Little Falls; rector St. Mary’s Cathedral; pastor, St. Mary, Little Falls, and pastor, Holy Family, Belle Prairie. He served on the Tribunal from 1969 through 2020. Father Landsberger retired July 1, 2014.
“He always had a sparkle in his eye and joy in him,” said Father Ben Kociemba, pastor of the Little Falls Catholic Community, which includes Holy Family, St. Mary’s and Our Lady of Lourdes in Little Falls. “He was sensitive to people’s needs. He really cared about, and had a big heart for, the people of Little Falls.”
Father Landsberger is survived by sisters, Florine Patowski and Rachel (Arlen) Dusha; and brothers, Gerald (Betty), Ronald (Norma), and Leroy (Linda). He was preceded in death by his parents, and brothers, Jerome and Father Robert, and sisters, Audrey VanDuzer, Grace Pick and Eileen Quigley.