Father James Norbert Reichert, OSB

Monk of Saint John's Abbey
Collegeville, Minnesota

Born: September 29, 1931

Professed: July 11, 953

Ordained: June 6, 1959

Died: December 14, 2025

James Norbert Reichert was born in Marshfield, Wisconsin, on September 29, 1949, to Joseph and Mildred (Caan) Reichert. His mother was a homemaker, and his father was the manager of a Farmer’s Oil Cooperative. James attended Saint Bernard’s Catholic School in Thorp, Wisconsin (1937–1945), and then enrolled in Saint John’s Preparatory School in Collegeville (1945–1949).

After graduating from the preparatory school, James worked for about a year at the Mutual Service Insurance Company in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He then enrolled in Saint John’s University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1955. His first profession as a Benedictine monk was on July 11, 1953; his final solemn profession was in 1956. Completing his divinity degree at Saint John’s Seminary, he was ordained to the priesthood on June 6, 1959. In the summer of this year, he studied Classics (Latin) at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

In reflecting on his priestly vocation, Father James says that “it could not be traced in the efforts of my family in home training.” Although he does credit the nuns, who were his teachers in his early years, as “an asset to my vocation,” he reveals that he “often thought of a priestly vocation in prep school.” While the “proximate aids to [his] vocation” occurred during his earlier years of working in Saint Paul, the “immediate aid” came from his reflection on a retreat at Big Sandy Lake sponsored by the CYC in 1950. “For the first time I prayed for a religious vocation, and during the following week made up my mind that I would return to Saint John’s and study for the priesthood.”

Father James taught Latin at his alma mater, Saint John’s Preparatory School, during most of the years between 1956 and 1966, and was a resident hall prefect there in 1959.

In the summer of 1960, he was appointed associate pastor of Saint John the Baptist Church in Grand Marais, Minnesota.

In 1965 and 1966, Father James became the director of financial aid at Saint John’s University as well as the manager of the Saint John’s University Bookstore. In 1966 through 1967, he traveled to Humacao, Puerto Rico, where he taught mathematics and English at the Colegio San Antonio Abad. On his return to Minnesota in 1967, he became associate pastor of Saint Joseph parish in Minneapolis until the following year (1968) when he was assigned to the Saint John’s Abbey Business Office until 1971.

From 1971 until 1973, he returned to Puerto Rico to teach mathematics; then back again to Central Minnesota and Saint John’s Abbey, where he was appointed assistant procurator in the business office until 1979.

His next pastoral assignment was as assistant pastor at Saint Bernard’s parish in Saint Paul, Minnesota, for a ten-year stint from 1973 until 1983, after which he became assistant pastor at Seven Dolors parish in Albany, Minnesota. In 1986, he left Seven Dolors to become pastor of Immaculate Conception in New Munich, Minnesota, until 1992. Once again, he became pastor of Saint Benedict’s Church in Avon, Minnesota, from 1992 to 2002, and then on to another pastoral assignment as chaplain at Saint Theresa Home in New Hope, Minnesota, until the year 2011.

His final pastoral assignment as chaplain was at Mother of Mercy Nursing Home in Albany, Minnesota, from May through November 2011, after which he returned to Saint John’s Abbey for retirement.

Father James enjoyed a sabbatical period of pastoral renewal in the year 1996 at the Catholic University of Louvain, Leuven, Belgium.

Father James was an upbeat person who could make his confreres laugh. He had a dry and witty sense of humor that seems to have appeared on the scene early in his life, as he writes: “To my younger sisters and brothers I was a big tease and a prankster.”

Father James died on December 14 in the retirement center at Saint John’s Abbey. He is survived by his brother, Robert (Jaynne), Richmond Hills, GA, Sisters, Sister Lois, OSM, Ladysmith, WI, and Jeanette Baldizon, Hacienda Heights, CA, and Brother-in-law, Richard McDermott, Whittler, CA, and the community at Saint John’s Abbey.

The monks, family, and friends will receive the body at 7:00 pm on Thursday, December 18th, and celebrate the Mass of Christian Burial for Father James at 10:00 am on Friday, December 19th, in Saint John’s Abbey and University Church, with interment in the abbey cemetery. The service will be live-streamed (YouTube).