Autobiography written by Al Bitz for the 2017 Journey to the Homeland Tour:

“I was born on August 2, 1943 to Mathias Bitz and Rose (Schwartzenberger) at Napoleon. I was baptized at St. Anthony’s Church (rural Napoleon) on August 8 with Elizabeth Schmitt and Mike Sperle as my godparents. We moved to Peter’s Siding (Pleasant View Farm) the following spring of 1944. Our mail address was Burnstad, but we were members of St. Philip Neri Church at Napoleon.

I have nine brothers and six sisters: Hilary (Carol), Ferdinand-deceased (Mathilda), Margaret, Cecilia (Tom Brown), Leonard-deceased (Marcy), Vincent (Marjie), Sebastian (Deb-deceased), Alex (Joan-deceased), Richard (Zelda), Bernie (Calvin Johnson), Willie (Donna), Monica (Ken-deceased), Mathias Jr-deceased (Janice), Marian (David Gates), Sharon (George Lawrence).

My great grandparents Longinus and Aloisia Bitz and grandparents Mathias and Magdalena (Frison) Bitz came from Kandel and settled several miles north of St. Anthony’s Church. My mother’s parents are Sebastian and Margaret (Sperle) Schwartzenberger.

I attended the country school of Starkey School District #1, Assumption Abbey in Richardton from 1957-1963, St. Paul Seminary from 1963-1969, St. Thomas University in St. Paul from where I received my Master’s Degree in Teaching, St. John's University, Collegeville, MN, Liturgy and Scripture in Jerusalem, 1981.

I am a lifelong member of St. Philip Neri Church in Napoleon. I was ordained as a priest for the Church of Fargo, on June 13, 1969 in Napoleon.

My first assignment was to New Rockford and Maddock (1969-1971); Langdon-Osnabrock-Milton-Nekoma (1971-1976); St. Michael’s of Grand Forks (1976-1978); St. Anthony in Fargo (1978-1983); St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fargo (1983-1993); Wimbledon, Courtenay and Kensal (1994-1996); Casselton and Buffalo (1996-2003); Jamestown, Pingree, Buchanan, Fried, and Windsor (2003-2014). In retirement, I am working at the University of Mary in Bismarck, ND (2014 – present).

In 1977, I traveled to South America with Fr. Richard Gross and visited the Germans from Russia colonies in Argentina. Here we met Iris Graefe, from Austria, who has written extensively about the South American Germans from Russia.

Bishop Alexander Frison is a first cousin of my grandmother Magdalena. He was condemned to death by the Russians on March 17, 1937 and shot to death several months later on June 20th. His niece Magdalena, who was his housekeeper-secretary, was martyred on May 22, 1938 after having been in the Gulag in Magadan.”