History of the Schoenstatt Movement

The Schoenstatt movement is named after the place where it was founded at Schoenstatt/Vallendar. This lies on the Rhine near Koblenz in Germany. The name itself means a 'beautiful place'

The Movement was founded on the 18th of October 1914 by a young Pallotine Priest Fr. Joseph Kentenich (1885 - 1968) and a group of junior seminarians.

The intention was to create "firm, free priestly characters" through the covenant of love with Mary, and to invite Her to make the shrine a place of grace. From there she would shape the hearts of people for the renewal of the Church in our times. Essentially Fr. Kentenich wanted to create a spiritual life that was adaptable to the fast changing conditions of the modern world. The resolve and plans of the young students were severely tested when many were called to serve in the trenches of the First World War.

Between the wars Schoenstatt began to grow as a retreat centre that catered for many different groups of people from all walks of life. Fr. Kentenich himself gave many of the talks and retreats developing the Covenant of love with Mary. He highlighted how the world is moving into a new era and the Church has to give a credible response to the needs of our times.

During the 1930s the activities of the movement came under close scrutiny of the Nazis. In 1941 Fr. Kentenich was arrested and sent to Dachau concentration camp for four years.

It was in Dachau that a member of Schoenstatt, a young deacon called Karl Leisner, was secretly ordained to the priesthood. Karl died of tuberculosis shortly after his release from the camp and was beatified in 1996.

After the war Fr. Kentenich began visiting countries where Schoenstatt had become established, particularly South African and South America.

During this period he wrote an letter to the Church authorities on 'mechanistic thinking' which highlighted the dangers facing the Church due to modes of theological thought which separated the life of God from His creation and our humanity from the Spirit. The response to this letter was a Visitation of Schoenstatt by the Church authorities and Fr. Kentenich was exiled in to the United States for over 14 years.

The Vatican council opened up a new vision of the Church that better understood Fr. Kentenich's work and in 1965 he was called back home and fully reinstated by Pope Paul VI. During the next three years Fr. Kentenich was able to continue his work with the movement and died on 15th Sept 1968.