VGI Updates

Martin Schmidt, son of Raymond John Schmidt & Sophia Karlin, was born 12 October 1918 in Catharine, Kansas.

He was ordained in St. Fidelis Catholic Church in Victoria, Kansas, on 2 June 1946 and received the name of Firmin.

In 1959, Pope John XXIII appointed Father Schmidt in as prefect apostolic of the Capuchin mission in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

Father Firmin Schmidt was consecrated the first Bishop of the Diocese of Mendi on 15 December 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvaina. He served in this capacity until his retirement in 1995.

Sister Mary Fidelis Karlin was born Cecilia Karlin, daughter of Athanasius Karlin & Dorothea Schuetz, on 16 December 1898 in Catharine, Kansas.

At a young age, she entered the Order of the Sisters of St. Agnes (C.S.A.). The Order's headquarters are in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Jakob Jakoblevich Maul was born in 1960. He served as Rector (President) of The Kazakh Agricultural Technical University in Astana from 1991-1993.

Dr. Maul died in 2022.

Dr. Maul's Volga German ancestors came from the colony of Schilling.