Visitation Information

Rev. Conrad M. Borntrager, O.S.M.

Passed away on April 10, 2023

Fr. William Borntrager (Fr. Conrad) was born May 16, 1934 in Chicago to William Harold Borntrager of Rensselaer, Indiana, and Esther Michaelis of Stillwater, Minnesota, who met in Chicago.  He had one sister, Rosemary, who became a Sister of Providence. He attended St. Philip's Grammar School and High School in Chicago, where he graduated at the head of his class.  He was a skilled musician on piano and flute and played in a dance band for area Catholic high schools.  In later years he played flute at St. Annunciata and Our Lady of Sorrows. He was also active and very successful in debate.  He and his family drove through all 48 states of the continental union during summer vacations and visited all 48 state capitals.  They also visited Mexico.  

After graduation he joined the Servite Order and began his studies at Mundelein Seminary.  Then he moved to Benburb Priory in Ireland where he continued, and finally to Rome where he studied for a number of years.  He became fluent in Italian and Latin and even took the oral exams for his classes in Latin.  He was ordained in Rome in 1960, in a ceremony attended by his parents, who had traveled from Chicago to South Africa and then by train up to Cairo and Rome.  His first set of vestments, the green one, was hand made by his aunt, Mrs. Helen Borntrager Buschen, who was a very skilled seamstress and his godmother; and his first chalice was made by hand of Black Hills gold by his sister, Rosemary, who was an artist.  He next was sent to Louvain University in Belgium, the preeminent Catholic university in the world, to work on a doctorate in history.  He became fluent in French.  He completed all the course work and wrote his first dissertation and earned his master's degree.  He then began research on his second major dissertation on the dissolution of the Servite monasteries in France during the 18th century, but he did not complete the degree.  He returned to the U.S.and earned a master's degree in Mariolatry from the Catholic University of America.  Over the years he wrote a number of articles on aspects of Mariolatry, and these were published in various journals.   He enjoyed the conferences at Notre Dame U. on this subject.  Over the years, he was also sent to various Servite friaries all over the world, including India and South Africa and Australia, to lecture on Servite history.  He returned to Italy almost yearly for many years to give a series of lectures on Servite history to Servite seminarians.
As his parents grew older, he returned to Chicago and resided at St. Annunciata Parish as well as Our Lady of Sorrows.  He acted as Archivist to the Order, working in Chicago and Portland, as that Province was closed.  He published numerous articles in specialized journals on the Servite order, dissolution of Servite monasteries in France, and Mariolatry.  He attended many conferences around the U.S. on these topics.

He taught part-time for some years at the Theological Union at the U. of Chicago on Church history.  While in Chicago he walked from Sorrows to his parents' home in Norridge, a distance of about 15 miles, weekly to visit and help them in their old age.  He helped tend the garden which was his father's pride.  He often visited his sister at her convent in Terre Haute.  He enjoyed flowers, and he often visited the Garfield Park Conservatory and Lincoln Park Conservatory in Chicago with his cousin, John.  His mother died in 1989, his father in 1991, and his sister Rosemary six weeks before he died. 

Fr. Conrad had one aunt who was a Sister of Charity and another aunt who was a sister of the Precious Blood; he had four great-aunts who were sisters, and three great-uncles who were priests; and he has one second cousin, also named William Borntrager, who is a Franciscan friar in Missouri today.

Funeral services will take place at Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica on Monday, April 17 with viewing from 9:00AM to 10:00AM, Morning Prayer from the Office for the Dead at 9:30AM, and Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00AM. Interment will be in the Servite section, Queen of Heaven Cemetery, Hillside, IL.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Fr. Borntrager’s memory to the Order of Friar Servants of Mary, 3121 W. Jackson Blvd. Chicago, IL 60612.