Michel, Virgil

Michel, Virgil (b. George Francis Michel)

(1890–1938) religious leader; born in St. Paul, Minn. A Benedictine priest with a doctorate from Catholic University, he was a pioneer of Catholic liturgical reform, and while teaching at St. John's College (Minn.), he founded the liturgical periodical Orate Fratres (later, Worship) (1926). Other concerns, also reflected in his writings, included Indian welfare (he worked among Chippewa Indians from 1930 to 1933), Thomistic philosophy, and social welfare; from 1935 he directed the St. John's Institute for Social Studies.