George Henry Speltz

George Henry Speltz (* May 29, 1912 in Altura, Minnesota; † 1 February 2004 in St. Cloud, Minnesota) was Bishop of Saint Cloud.

Life

Speltz studied at St. Mary's College in Winona and at the Seminary of St. Paul Seminary. He received on 2 June 1940, the ordination. In 1944 he became Doctor of Philosophy and Vice-Chancellor of the Diocese of Winona. In 1948, he became the first rector of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary.

Pope John XXIII. appointed him auxiliary bishop on February 12, 1963 in Winona and titular bishop of Claneus. He received his episcopal consecration on 25 March of the same year Edward Aloysius Fitzgerald, Bishop of Winona. Co-consecrators were Peter William Bartholome, Bishop of St. Cloud, and Frederick William Freking, Bishop of Salina. He participated in the second, third and fourth session of the Second Vatican Council until 1965.

Pope Paul VI. appointed him on April 4, 1966 Coadjutor Bishop of Saint Cloud. After Bartholome resignation Speltz joined on January 31, 1968 to his successor. He took more conservative positions. He refused, for example, the church wedding couples who lived together before the wedding. On January 13, 1987, he resigned for health reasons. He died in 2004 in St. Benedict's Senior Community age 91.