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VGI Updates

Roeckl, Ildephonse

Father Ildephonse was born in Trautenberg, Bavaria, on 27 July 1888. He came to the United States in 1904. After spending two years with the Benedictine Fathers of St. Vincent's Archabbey, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, as a brother of candidate and novice, he began his ecclesiastical studies with the Capuchin Fathers in St. Fidelis Prepatory Seminary, Herman, Pennsylvania. He studied philosophy in St. Fidelis Seminary, Victoria, Kansas, and completed his theological studies in Sts. Peter and Paul monastery, Cumberland, Maryland. He was ordained 22 September 1918 in Mt. St.

Schwartz, Johann Georg

Pastor Schwartz was born 10 November 1867 in Pölwe/Livland and died 19 March 1935 in Krassnyi-Kut.

He was ordained on 4 September 1894.

He served as associate pastor in Beideck in 1895. From 1901-1906, he was pastor in Weimar, from 1906-1912 in Hoffental, and beginning in 1914 in Schöntal.

Seib, Eduard

Pastor Seib was born 26 December 1872 in Bergdorf (Odessa District) and died 12 January 1940. He was ordained 31 May 1898. He served the congregations in Messer from 1899-1909, in Beideck from 1900-1903, in Warenburg from 1909-1918, in Saratov from 1918-1924, and in Taganrog from 1925-1931. In 1931, he was banned to the Aural Sea. He was free in 1934-1935 in Taganrog. In 1936, he went to Siberia and returned to Taganrog in 1937. In 1938, he went missing in Kazakhstan.

Sibbul, Woldemar Emil Arthur

The Rev. Woldemar Emil Arthur Sibbul, son of merchant Georg S. Sibbul and Elisabeth Makkar, was born in Dorpat, Estonia, on 25 August 1869 and died 16 February 1947 in Berlin. He was married in Saratov on 10 January 1901 to Olga Kindsvater, daughter of Alexander K. Kindsvater and Natalie Müller. She was born in Saratov on 26 October 1878 and died in Hamburg, West Germany, on 14 December 1972.

Somelt, Michael

The Rev. Michael Somelt was born 31 August 1868 in Palamuse parish (today located in Jõgeva County) in Estonia. He entered the University of Tartu in the fall of 1888 to study medicine, but changed to study theology.

He was ordained on 15 December 1896 and accepted a call to serve the Volga German parishes of Frank and Hussenbach from 1901-1914.

In 1914, he went to Siberia to found a new congregation.  He contracted tuberculosis there and died on 15/16 July 1915.