Farewell, Sister Jean — The Saint of March Madness

The Loyola legend and America’s nun of joy has died at 106. It’s time for her fellow Chicagoan, Pope Leo, to begin her canonization process.

Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, BVM, Loyola University Chicago’s longtime team chaplain and beloved Catholic nun, has passed away at age 106.

Known to millions simply as “Sister Jean,” she became a national sensation during the Ramblers’ Cinderella Final Four run in 2018, rallying players and fans alike with her prayers and quick wit.

But long before that fame, Sister Jean spent decades in service as a Catholic sister and educator, touching generations of students with her warmth and wisdom.

As Loyola’s president reflected, even amid grief there is “great joy in her legacy” as her legacy lives on in the thousands of lives she touched.

From an early age, Sister Jean’s life was defined by faith and service. Inspired by a Catholic sister as a child, she entered the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary at 18 and spent the next five decades teaching and ministering in schools from California to Chicago.

She joined Loyola in 1991, and in 1994 — at an age when most would retire — embraced a new calling as chaplain to the men’s basketball team, a role she later called “the highlight of her career.”

For over a quarter-century as chaplain, Sister Jean was the spiritual heart of Loyola’s athletics.

She led the team in prayer before each game and often followed up with encouraging emails afterward. She even coined a personal motto, “Worship, Work, Win,” to capture how seamlessly she blended devotion with competition.

And as she liked to quip, “I may be an old nun, but I know my hoops” — and indeed she did, often weaving her own scouting tips into pregame invocations.

In daily life, Sister Jean truly practiced what she preached.

Even at age 103, she rose at 5 AM for prayer and email, and was on campus by 10 AM to greet students. She never stopped caring for others — encouraging the young to pursue their dreams and always ready with a kind word for anyone alone.

Sister Jean’s passing prompted an outpouring of tributes. Former President Barack Obama tweeted that “March Madness won’t be the same without Sister Jean,” celebrating “this remarkable woman.”

Cardinal Blase Cupich likewise called her a “beloved friend” and praised her unwavering faith and humor.

In these trying times for the Church, it would be fitting for her fellow Chicagoan, Pope Leo XIV— the first American pope — to consider opening the cause for Sister Jean’s canonization.

Her century-long witness of joy, faith, and resilience is exactly the kind of sanctity the Church needs to celebrate now.

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