Konrad von Parzham

St. Conrad of Parzham, O.F.M. Cap.
Born	22 December 1818 Bad Griesbach, Passau, Kingdom of Bavaria
Died	21 April 1894 Altötting, Kingdom of Bavaria
Venerated in	Roman Catholicism (Franciscan Order)
Beatified	1930 by Pope Pius XI
Canonized	1934 by Pope Pius XI
Feast	21 April

Saint Conrad of Parzham, O.F.M. Cap. (1818 – 1894), was a German Franciscan lay brother. He served for over 40 years in the post of porter of the Capuchin friary in Altötting, through which work he gained a widespread reputation for his wisdom and holiness. He has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church.

Born 22 December 1818, he was baptized with the name of John, the son of Bartholomäus Birndorfer and Gertrude Niedermayer, and was born on the family farm in Bad Griesbach, now a part of the town of Parzham, then in the Kingdom of Bavaria, now part of Germany. He was the ninth son in a peasant family.

From his earliest years, the young Hansel (a diminutive of John) gave indications of his future sanctity by his modesty and love of solitude. His devotion was noticeable especially when he prayed in church, the distant location of which was no hindrance to his visiting it frequently even in inclement weather. He had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and each day fervently recited the Rosary. On feast days he frequently made a journey to some remote shrine of the Blessed Mother. During such pilgrimages, always made on foot, he was engaged in prayer, and when he returned in the evening, he was usually still fasting.

John spent his early years on the family farm, losing his mother when he was 14. At the age of 31, after his father's death, he decided to leave the secular world. After disposing of his inheritance, he was admitted, first as a tertiary, then, two years later, as a lay brother among the Capuchin Franciscan friars. Upon entering the novitiate, he was given the name Conrad by which he was known for the remainder of his life.

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