Br. Leo Schoenberg

Br. Leo Anthony Schoenberg, osc

1933–2025

The Crosier Fathers and Brothers mourn the loss of our confrere.

Br. Leo Anthony Schoenberg, osc, was born March 30, 1933, in Spring Hill, Minn., to William and Elenora (Braun) Schoenberg. He was one of 11 children.

Br. Leo died peacefully at the Mille Lacs Health System Long Term Care facility in Onamia, Minn., on May 10, 2025. He was 92.

He attended District 161 Spring Hill Township in Spring Hill; Crosier Seminary in Onamia; and Melrose High School in Melrose, Minn.

Br. Leo entered the Crosier novitiate in 1951 and made his first profession of vows on March 19, 1952, in Fort Wayne, Ind., 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, Neb., Fort Wayne and Onamia. He also worked at Sacred Heart Seminary in Fort Wayne from 1951–1952; Our Lady of the Lake Seminary in Syracuse, Ind., from 1952–1957; and 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.

Br. Leo’s hobby in later years was developing scrapbooks where he collected beautiful pictures of nature scenes that delighted him and copied poems and sayings he found meaningful.

A love of religious life flowed through Br. Leo’s family as two of his older brothers, Fr. Martin and Fr. Oscar, became Crosier priests; Br. Walter was a Trappist brother; and his older sister, Sr. Lucy, was a Franciscan sister.

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.

The Mass of Christian Burial for Br. Leo will take place at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 4 at the Crosier Priory in Onamia, with the Office of the Dead at 9:30 a.m. Prayer) followed by the Rite of Reception at 9 a.m. A luncheon will follow the Mass. A private inurnment is planned in the priory cemetery columbarium.

Memorials are preferred to the Crosier Fathers and Brothers, Box 500, Onamia, MN 56359-0500.