On August 27, 1996, Father Michael O'Reilly died at St. William's Home in Milbank. Fr Michael was born in Evansville, Indiana on March 27, 1931. When he was a high school senior, the O'Reilly family moved to Stephan where his father was employed at Immaculate Conception Indian Mission. The mission superior, Fr Augustine Edele, was a former pastor of the O'Reillys at St. Benedict's in Evansville. Fr Michael graduated from high school at Stephan and then returned to Indiana to attend seminary college at St. Meinard. he entered the novitiate at Blue Cloud in 1953. He and his classmate, Fr Wilfrid Lambertz, on September 8, 1954, were the first members of our community to make monastic profession at Blue Cloud. Fr Michael was ordained to the priesthood on May 7, 1959.

From 1957 until 1961, he was our vocation recruiter and director of Camp Mahpiyato. His first assignment on the missions was at Stephan where he prefected. From 1961 until he was recalled to the abbey in 1993, Fr Michael worked on all the reservations where our community staffed missions. For two years in the 1960s, he worked off the reservation but was still among the Indian people as their pastor in Pierre. From 1972 until 1979, he was the superior of St. Paul's Mission at Marty.

In January of 1995, Fr Michael had a car accident and sustained a serious back injury. He spent the remainder of his life in a nursing home. Although his condition had been declining over the summer, his death came as a surprise. When the monks heard the tolling of the tower bell, they rushed to Father Francis Suttmiller's infirmary room. Fr Francis, who was dying of cancer, grinned and informed his confreres, "Wrong guy."

Fr Michael liked working on the reservations and he loved the Indian people. The great disappointment of his life was our community's withdrawal from the missions. He was a loyal Democrat who was maced at the 1968 Chicago National Convention which he attended in support of George McGovern. His death occurred during the week when the Democrats were back in Chicago.

Fr Michael was a good-natured man who proceeded through life calmly. Sometimes sleepily. When he was a deacon, his neighbor in the choir stalls at Communion Mass, Br Alex Margolis, occasionally had to wake him for the intoning of the Confiteor before the reception of the Eucharist.

After his accident, Fr Michael's personality changed noticeably. His conversations were limited to a "Yes" or a "No." He left this life on earth ever so quietly.