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Church bells tolled just before 10 a.m. on Thursday as hundreds of members of the Loyola University Chicago community and broader public filtered into Madonna della Strada Chapel to honor the life and memory of Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, BVM, who died on October 9, 2025, at the age of 106.
Few people have lived long enough to mark the passage of as many profound historical milestones as Sister Jean. In her 106-year life, the beloved nun, educator, and chaplain saw 19 U.S. presidents take office and nine Popes assume leadership of the Catholic Church. She witnessed the arrival of the atomic bomb, lived through World War II and the Vietnam War, cheered the Civil Rights movement, outlasted the Spanish flu and COVID-19 pandemics, and witnessed the birth of the internet.
But it was how Sister Jean touched people in those years—through her compassion, service orientation, and abiding faith—that emerged as the recurring theme of the funeral mass. Sr. Mary Ann Zollmann, a nun of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary religious order and Life Trustee of Loyola who delivered the eulogy, called her a “living ode to God’s love.”
“She sensed when someone was going through a time of loneliness, a sorrow in their family, struggles with their studies or their vocation, or simply needed a break from the intensity of it all,” Zollmann said. “Jean was, first and foremost, a veritable presence of mighty kindness.”
A mansion in God’s house
At the start of a celebratory service edged with sadness, priests and acolytes in white vestments gathered in twin semicircles on either side of the baptismal font. Guests, dressed mostly in formal black attire, but also wearing Loyola sweatshirts, denim jackets, leopard print dresses, and maroon and gold scarves, rose from wooden pews, turning to watch as pallbearers wheeled Sister Jean’s casket, draped in a cream-colored cloth, slowly toward the altar. At the sound of the pipe organ, the chapel choir raised their voices, leading guests in a processional hymn.
With levity and grace, Zollmann outlined the almost fable-like progression of Sister Jean’s life from her childhood dream in San Francisco of becoming a nun to her initiation into the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary; from her work as an elementary school teacher and principal in Los Angeles, California, to her time as an educator and administrator at Mundelein College; and perhaps most notably, from her service at Loyola as an academic adviser to her ascendance to worldwide fame as the men’s basketball team chaplain—at every step extending herself as an open-hearted friend and confidante to the many drawn into her orbit.
“As a woman of wisdom, prayer, and compassion, she has been … the heartbeat of God’s friendship at the heart of Loyola,” Zollmann said. Sister Jean herself had a fitting conception of her University role, which Zollmann shared during the eulogy. “I have often been referred to as ‘friend of many,’ That was my main job title, and I loved it.”
Zollmann recalled how Sister Jean “agonized the release of the atomic bomb and grieved the internment of the Japanese people” during World War II. She stressed how “feeling connected to my students was like oxygen,” to Sister Jean, and drew rousing laughter at the mention of a “rambunctious” elementary student “whom [Sister Jean] converted by turning upside down so he could proudly demonstrate the principle of inverted fractions.”
To an overflow crowd held in hushed attention, Zollmann also touted her close friend and former college instructor’s lesser-known role as a skilled and persistent administrator who served as “a significant bridge in facilitating the difficult affiliation of Mundelein with Loyola.”
“The two institutions shared an affinity of spirit,” she said. “In the way of their founders, Mary Frances Clarke and Ignatius of Loyola, the BVMs and Jesuits claimed a common mission: seeing and loving God in all that is.”
I have often been referred to as ‘friend of many.’ That was my main job title, and I loved it.
— Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, BVM
This set the stage for Zollmann’s remembrance of Sister Jean’s unlikely rise to international stardom, when the team chaplain’s pregame prayers and sideline scouting reports drove the popular media narrative surrounding the Ramblers’ improbable run to the Final Four of the 2018 NCAA basketball tournament.
“She is at peace abiding in God’s love,” she concluded as several attendees sobbed softly and dabbed at the corners of their eyes. “She tells us not to grieve or be troubled because she is in one of the many mansions in God’s house and even assures us that we know the place well, and we do. Her mansion is a replica of her office on the first floor of Loyola’s Damen Student Center. It has large clear windows and a wide-open door through which she can see the residents of heaven not passing by but lined up for a visit with her.”
‘Small acts of kindness’
Following scripture readings emphasizing the Christian promise of eternal life through God’s grace, Rev. Michael J. Garanzini, S.J., president emeritus of Loyola, offered a homily celebrating the “small acts of kindness that endeared [Sister Jean] to thousands.”
“No one better exemplified a Christian Ignatian educator,” he said, calling her an “ever-present surrogate grandmother to countless students dealing with homesickness, with academic challenges, with teammates and roommates and social and political rivals.”
He described Sister Jean as “my man in Havana,” referring to English author Graham Greene’s popular spy novel, and affectionately teased her as a “consummate gossipist,” whose ear for the undercurrents of campus life were never unkind, but “had a purpose of making the community a better place for people.”
Sister Jean’s cutting humor, Garanzini suggested, was also at the heart of her outsized influence over the levers of power at Loyola. He shared a story of early morning rides they took in a presidential Volkswagen from Regis Hall, where they both lived, to the Water Tower Campus. “She would not wait for me to open the door,” he said. “As she slid in, she’d say to herself and to me, ‘let’s see what I have for you today.’”
Her knack for the well-timed zinger also came through in a story Garanzini shared of Sister Jean’s trips to Loyola’s Health Science Campus to receive Botox injections to strengthen her ankles. “She once told me, ‘I have the most beautiful ankles of any centenarian you will ever meet,’” he said, as laughter rippled through the sanctuary.
Moments after the homily, guests rose from their seats and approached the altar to receive the Eucharist or, for non-Catholics, a blessing at the hands of religious leaders.
Before the service concluded, President Mark C. Reed read from a letter from Archbishop of Chicago Blase Cupich, who shared his condolences to those in attendance, praising Sister Jean’s commitment to education, “spirit of generosity, authenticity, and joy,” and personal ministry to mentor students and “encourage young people to work for their dreams.”
“May her example of doing that inspire and guide us in the path of service and renew all of us in hope as we thank God for the gift of her life,” the letter read.
From here to heaven
The funeral mass capped a week of tribute and remembrance that reached across the nation and saw an outpouring of support from national leaders, faith communities, and sports and music celebrities, including former president Barack Obama; Illinois Governor JB Pritzker; Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson; Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago; ESPN sportscaster Dick Vitale, the Chicago Cubs, and rapper Lil Wayne.
It also followed a wake and visitation held at Madonna della Strada Chapel on Wednesday night, during which guests gathered in quiet reflection and remembrance, many offering prayers at Sister Jean’s casket, which was flanked by floral bouquets and a portrait of the chaplain seated in a wheelchair, smiling joyfully and wearing a maroon and gold Loyola scarf.
During the wake, Jane Neufeld, director of Alumni Relations, gave a moving tribute to her colleague and close friend. “My heart is heavy, but I’m grateful. Every moment has been a gift filled with laughter, hilarious adventures, and so many stories,” she said.
“Her office was located in the Damen Student Center,” Neufeld continued, “the busiest space on campus with a constant stream of students outside her office door, laughing, studying, hanging out, and stopping in to share secrets, family updates, pray, and yes, take a selfie. She was queen of the selfie, and she loved to have her picture taken and she loved to spend as much time as she could with students.”
Even when physically weakened, Sister Jean maintained her unflinching optimism and razor-sharp memory, Neufeld said. Becoming visibly emotional, she paused to compose herself at the microphone before sharing a recorded phone message from a July visit to The Clare, a retirement community on the Water Tower Campus, where Sister Jean lived during her later years.
“As I pass from this life to the journey to our God in heaven, whether it’s in Nikes or barefoot, I’m sure I’ll have a good time doing it,” Neufeld said, reciting Sister Jean’s message. “I trust that when God wants me, I will go and I’ll answer the call as I answered the call to my vocation. Life in heaven is going to be very different from my life on earth. And when I say heaven, ‘oh, I expect to go there.’”
