Michel, Virgil (1890-1938)

US religious leader. A Benedictine priest with a doctorate from Catholic University, he was a pioneer of Catholic liturgical reform, and while teaching at St John's College in Minnesota, he founded the liturgical periodical Orate Fratres (later renamed Worship) in 1926. Other concerns, also reflected in his writings, included American Indian welfare, which prompted him to work among Chippewa Indians (1930-33); Thomistic philosophy; and social welfare. From 1935, he directed the St John's Institute for Social Studies. Michel was born in St Paul, Minnesota.