Sister M. Leonida Schmidt, O.S.F., passes away Oct. 21

Sister M. Leonida Schmidt, O.S.F., 94, quietly passed away at her home, St. Francis Convent, Hankinson, October 21. The vigil service will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday, October 24; the rosary will be prayed at 7:10 pm. before the vigil service. A Mass of Christian Burial will take place at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, October 25. Both services will be at St. Francis Convent Chapel, Hankinson. Doors will open an hour before each service for all wishing to come early to pay their respects. 

Following a profound life of prayer for others and service to the Church, Sr. Leonida courageously accepted her declining health for many years. We can only imagine the pure joy and peace she must have experienced as she looked with eyes that could again see with unimaginable clarity and moved with perfect freedom of the release from every limitation she offered up to God without complaint.

Sister Leonida, born Regina Philomena, was the fifth of ten children born to Benedict and Carolina (Hoffert) Schmidt, on January 15, 1931, on the family farm at Blumenfeld, North Dakota. She loved the rural Germans from Russian heritage she grew up in.
Sister Leonida taught for over 60 years and loved being in the classroom. In her own words, “I had no trouble finding and seeing Jesus there. He smiled at me through every eager face. I saw His light in the eyes of a child especially when understanding entered their mind after hours of struggle.” In the fall of 1949 at the age of 18, she was sent to her first teaching mission at Collegeville, Minnesota. That assignment lasted five and a half years. For another 55 years Sister Leonida taught at a number of schools, parochial and public, across the Fargo Diocese. In 1989 Sister Leonida received the National Catholic Education Association’s Distinguished Principal’s Award at their national conference in Baltimore, Maryland.

As busy as her life was, Sister Leonida was totally devoted to her prayer life. Until just 2 weeks before her death she was at every Mass and kept the communal prayer schedule. Her tenacity for service was surpassed only by her tenacity for prayer and her absolute trust in Jesus and our Blessed Mother. After the loss of her vision, she was still a voice of wisdom and insight for us at our Saturday morning scripture studies. Her mind was clear and her life of meditation before the Blessed Sacrament was a treasure we already miss.
Kindly remember Sister Leonida in your prayers.

Please see the obituary at www.frankfamilyfuneralhome.com for more on the life of Sister Leonida.