Alexa Suelzer

Who is Alexa Suelzer?

Sister Alexa Suelzer, S.P., is an author, educator and theologian known for her Old Testament criticism. A Roman Catholic Religious Sister, she is a member of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. One of her most cited works is her essay "Modern Old Testament Criticism" in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. In addition to her writing, she taught for twenty years at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.

She was born on June 19, 1918, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She entered the religious life on February 14, 1938, and became a fully professed Sister on August 15, 1946. She earned a bachelor's degree in English at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, a master's degree in English at Marquette University, and a doctorate in Sacred Doctrine at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. In 1956 she was selected to study at the Regina Mundi institute in Rome.

Suelzer was part of a committee to look into the case of Michigan Sisters of Mercy Agnes Mary Mansour, who controversially refused to resign her position as the state's Director of Social Services though the State provided abortion services.