Fr. Peter Schmidt, O.C.S.O.

SPENCER – Father Peter was born on November 25, 1942 to ethnic German parents, Karl and Elisabeth Schmidt, in the Moravian town of Mährisch-Trübau, now part of the Czech Republic. As the Russian army approached the area in 1945 after World War II ended, the entire family, including the five children, fled to Braunschweig, West Germany. As a schoolboy there, Peter often passed the 12th century Cistercian Abbey of Riddagshausen, now a parish church, and it was those walks to the imposing structure that kindled in him a monastic vocation.

In college he studied pedagogics, German literature and history. Post-graduate work continued with philosophy and theology classes in Salzburg, Austria. After completing his master’s degree in 1970, he went to the Trappist Cistercian Abbey of Mariawald in Heimbach, Germany, for a prolonged period of discernment. He entered the monastery that same year, taking the monastic name Gotthard.

After professing temporary vows, he was sent to the University of Freiburg, in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, to complete theology studies. In 1975 he made his solemn profession as a Trappist monk. He was ordained a deacon and priest within that same year. Father Peter would often proudly recall that the bishop who ordained him was a survivor of Auschwitz, one of the few who stood up for the faith during those difficult times.

At Mariawald he served by turns as infirmarian, guest master, vocation director, and chaplain to the nuns at the Trappistine monastery of Maria Frieden in Kall-Steinfeld, Germany. In 1992, after receiving permission to visit another monastic community, he stayed at the Trappist monastery of St. Benedict’s Abbey in Snowmass, Colorado for a year. On his way back to Germany he stopped off at St. Joseph’s Abbey and stayed for four months. In 1999 he again visited the Spencer abbey and transferred his stability there in 2002. At St. Joseph’s Abbey, Father Peter served the community in several ways, most notably in the monastery’s giftshop and as a popular retreat master, gaining many devoted repeat-visitors who deeply regarded his gift for spiritual direction and animated friendship.

In his later years, Father Peter developed cancer which eventually went into remission, but more recent health challenges compromised his ability to function as he had in earlier days. He passed away very peacefully on the morning of September 21, 2026, under the watchful care of abbey infirmary attendants. Father Peter was pre-deceased by his four siblings, most recently in June 2026 by his devoted sister, Marianna Wyper. Aside from his brothers at the monastery, Father Peter is survived by other family members for whom he always held great affection and who miss him dearly: nephews Ulrich Sauerbrey and his wife Susan, and their son Devan of Indian Wells, California, and Andreas Sauerbrey of Steamboat Springs, Colorado and his family, as well as his sister-in-law Betty Schmidt of Oklahoma. 

The monastery wishes to thank the medical staff at the Abbey infirmary for their very competent and congenial care. With humble gratitude for the gift of his presence among us, the brothers commend Father Peter's soul to your prayers. There are no calling hours. A Funeral Mass and burial will be held at St. Joseph’s Abbey at 2:30 PM on Monday, September 28th, the abbot, Dom Timothy Scott, presiding. J. HENRI MORIN & SON FUNERAL HOME, 23 Maple Terrace, Spencer, is directing the arrangements.