Gregor (Doris) Bergerson, OSB
March 12, 1926 - July 27, 2011
Gregor (Doris) Bergerson was born March 12, 1926, to Bergie and Augusta (Ritzinger) Bergerson in Chippewa Falls, Wis. She graduated from Catholic grade school and public high school in Chippewa Falls. She entered Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, MN, on September 7, 1943, was received into the novitiate June 21, 1945, made first monastic profession on July 11, 1946, and perpetual profession on July 11, 1949.
Gregor earned a BA degree in music at the College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, MN, and an MA in music history at the University of Minnesota. Further studies took her to Mary Grove College in Detroit, MI, Saint John’s University and St. Norbert’s College in De Pere, WI.
Pastoral ministry was a second venture in Gregor’s life. As pastoral minister, she served in Anaconda, MT, and in Olivia, MN. After completing training in clinical pastoral education at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, she was certified as chaplain by the National Association of Catholic Chaplains (NACC) and served in this capacity at Mercy Health Center, Dubuque, IA. In 2001, she added certification in spiritual direction from the Spirituality Ministries Program at Saint Benedict’s Monastery.
Music animated Gregor, who loved to sing and to dance; her service included teaching classroom music, individual piano instruction, liturgy and sacred dance; at times she was church organist. These ministries took her to locations throughout Minnesota and to Colorado Springs, CO.
Later, Gregor filled the role of a volunteer teacher’s assistant in several grade schools in St. Cloud, MN. At Saint Benedict’s Monastery, she was organist, a member of the monastic schola, cantor, leader for sacred dance, spiritual companion and prefect of residents for the College of Saint Benedict for two years. She retired to Saint Scholastica Convent, St. Cloud, MN, in 2009.
Tribute prepared by Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, MN.