Lecture by Father Angel Lorenzo Strada
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Lecture By Father Angel Lorenzo Strada Commemorating the 120 th Anniversary of the birth of Father Joseph Kentenich Gymnich, $ovember 20, 2005 One hundred and twenty years ago, a very common event took place in Gymnich: the birth of a child. One hundred and twenty years later, we are gathered here in an uncommon meeting to commemorate said event. The same is being done by many people on all continents. What occurred one hundred and twenty years ago? Catherine, the youngest of the eight children of the Kentenich family, at that time was employed as a domestic on the Heuser farm in Oberbohlheim. There, she met Mattthias Joseph Koep, a native of Eggersheim and administrator of the farm. Catherine was 22 and was left pregnant. We do not know much about the relationship of these two. Matthias Koep was twice her age. We do not know if that was the reason why he did not marry her and legitimize the child, or perhaps if it was due to the family situation and the needs of Matthias’ younger sister. Whatever the reason, this situation was a heavy cross for Catherine and her son. What more do we know about the mother and the father of this child? It is said that Catherine Kentenich was a hard worker, very helpful, frugal, modest, profoundly religious and loved her family. "My mother was a very fine and holy woman," Father Kentenich once expressed in a conversation. The father had a good reputation. He worked in agriculture and in his old age he had an apiary. According to those who knew him, "he led an orderly life." He was respected, he was on the town council for many years, and attended Mass often, even during the week. The child was baptized in the parish of St. Kunnibert on November 19, 1885, with the name "Peter Joseph." Some time ago, the parish printed a postcard showing the copy of the corresponding note in the baptismal registry. The parish church became for Joseph Kentenich the place where the Eucharist was celebrated, a place for personal prayer, and the place where he encountered the saints, and the place for daily Catholic life. The young Joseph was probably impressed by the venerable tradition of the "Gymnich Cavalcade." This rogation procession on horseback takes place on the feast of the Ascension of the Lord. It is linked to the fifth Crusade which took place at the beginning of the thirteenth century. In this crusade, the nobleman, Arnold I of Gymnich, finding himself in danger of death experienced the special protection of God. In gratitude for the divine assistance, he promised to arrange a yearly cavalcade. That promise has been faithfully fulfilled until today. The cavalcade even took place during the critical years of both World Wars. It was only cancelled during the Thirty Years War and in 1666, due to the plague. As a single mother who had to educate her child by herself, she dedicated to him all her strength and love. Her letters give witness to the loving relationship with Joseph and of her profound religiosity. In a letter on the 28 th of September of 1917 (Father Kentenich was already 31 years old!) she writes the following: "My dear child: both of us want to offer our lives to God. I am grateful to God for having such a good child. That makes me very happy, happier than if I were given the whole world. Thus, dear child, I wish you renewed strength and health…..If you have some wish, please, let me know. You know that I am always here for you. With a cordial greeting, your mother who loves you very much." Elementary school, under the direction of Joseph Zimmermann, and later under August Klinkhammer, has 355 students. Joseph is a good student, but it cannot be said that he went to school happily. The school stressed discipline and repetition very much; he valued freedom and self-activity. Joseph’s classmates relate that the teachers were very severe and prone to using the switch for punishment. From 8:00 to 11:00 A.M. and from 1:00 to 3:00 P.M., Joseph Kentenich learns to read, to write, Bible History, mathematics, geography, drawing, choir, manual skills….. While school did not motivate him very much, life "outdoors" was a true joy for him. In summer, the moat at the castle was used for fishing and in winter for skating; the forests were used for playing hide and seek. Naturally, stolen apples were delicious, more delicious than apples from one’s own orchard! At nineteen years of age, Joseph writes during his summer vacation in Gymnich: "My health is better. As soon as I breathed the air from the town…..everything was in place again. One lives comfortably among the farmers." When Joseph was eight years old, his mother had the need to accept a full-time job as a cook in Cologne for the von Guillaume family. Her confessor, Father August Savels, pastor of Holy Apostles in Cologne, advises her to take her son to the orphanage in Oberhausen. Father Savels had founded the establishment. The mother follows the advice in spite of the heartfelt pain. In making this decision, her economic situation played an important part as did the death of the grandfather which had occurred five years earlier. Other important considerations were the advanced years of the grandmother and also the good possibilities for an education in Oberhausen. Joseph and his mother bid Gymnich farewell. With an eight month interruption in Straussburg, Joseph Kentenich spent the first eight years of his life in Gymnich. Psychology tells us that the first experiences of a child leave fundamental marks. On April 12, 1894, Joseph Kentenich enters the St. Vincent Orphanage. Saying good bye is difficult for the child and for his mother. Years later, Father Kentenich related that his mother consecrated him and entrusted him to the Mother of God in the chapel of the orphanage before a statue of the Virgin: "What did she do amid this anxiety and worry? She took the only valuable remembrance of her own childhood, a keepsake of her first communion and placed it around the neck of the statue and prayed fervently: ‘You educate my child, be totally a mother for him. Fulfill my maternal duties.’" Approximately 200 children have a very modest and poor existence at the orphanage. Joseph makes his first communion there on Cuasimodo Sunday, 1897. On that day he tells his mother of his desire to be a priest. His wish will come true. In September of 1899, Father Savels accompanies him to Ehrenbreitstein, Koblenz in order to enter the Minor Seminary of the Palottine Fathers. The place of birth is more that just mere personal data of identity. The family atmosphere and the surroundings are decisive for life. "I am me and my circumstance" were words of the Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset. We are accustomed to link our saints with the place of their birth: Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, Ignatius of Loyola. Francis, Teresa and Ignatius were marked by such concrete places and these in turn owe them their significance and hierarchical histories. Lastly, we speak of Jesus of Nazareth. The incarnation principle of our faith demands this locality in space and in time. Joseph Kentenich is located in the space and time of Gymnich, the Gymnich at the end of the 19 th century, the Gymnich near Cologne. None other than Pope Benedict XVI helps us to discover the central traits of the culture and Christian tradition of Cologne and its surroundings: "Here you can perceive the great history and the river which opens us to the world. It is a place where cultures meet. I always enjoyed the charm and wit, the good humor and the intelligence of the people of Cologne. But, I also always enjoyed the profound Catholicity rooted in the people from Cologne because there have been Christians here for two thousand years and thus Catholicism has made a deep impression in the character of the Cologne people through a religiosity marked by joyfulness" (Benedict XVI, Allocution in the Cathedral of Cologne on the 18 th of August, 2005, in OR, August 26, 2005). After his arrival at the Cologne airport, the Pope said: "The diocese and in particular the region of Cologne preserve a living remembrance of great witnesses to the faith. Saints who, so to speak, are on the pilgrimage of the great pilgrims which began with the Three Wise Men. I think of St. Boniface, St. Ursula, St. Albert the Great, and in contemporary times of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) and in Blessed Adolph Kolping. These, our brothers and sisters in the faith, maintained the torch of sanctity lit throughout centuries; they were persons who saw the star and they pointed it out to others." (Benedict XVI, Allocution at the International Cologne/Bonn Airport, August 18, 2005, in: OR, August 26, 2005) That torch of sanctity radiated in the life of Father Kentenich. His process of canonization began on February 10, 1975 in Treveris. After some pauses and the intense work with the voluminous documentation and numerous volumes of declarations by witnesses, we hope for the soon conclusion of the diocesan phase of the process. The reputation of sanctity is very well spread. Thousands of persons from eighty seven countries attest to the fact that Father Kentenich is for them a model of life, that they are inspired by him to live their faith, and that they trust in his intercession before God.