Schoenstatt Movement
| Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Founded | 18 October 1914 |
| Founder | Fr. Joseph Kentenich |
| Recognition | 6 October 1964 |
| Headquarters | Schoenstatt, Vallendar, Germany |
| Website | schoenstatt.org |
The Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt (German Schönstatt-Bewegung) is a Roman Catholic Marian Movement founded in Germany in 1914 by Father Joseph Kentenich. Fr. Kentenich saw the movement as being a means of spiritual renewal in the Catholic Church. The movement is named Schoenstatt (which means "beautiful place"), after a small village close to the town of Vallendar near Koblenz in Germany.
The group focuses on education and "spiritual formation." According to their website, "We seek to grow as free, dedicated, and active witnesses of Christ in modern life by uniting our faith with our everyday lives. We look to Mary to educate us in this task and to guide us in becoming better followers of Christ."
The Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement was founded at Schoenstatt, a junior seminary conducted by the Pallottines for those intending to work as missionaries in Africa. It grew out of a Marian sodality established there in April 1914. The superior offered the sodality use of St. Michael's Chapel, near the school. Father Kentenich, the seminary's spiritual director, inspired in part by the success of Bartolo Longo in establishing the Marian shrine to Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompei, felt called to establish a new shrine at Schoenstatt.
Kentenich's guidance of the religious brotherhood was influenced by the works of St. Louis Grignion de Montfort.
On December 8, 1920, the first women were accepted into the “Apostolic Federation of Schoenstatt" and women's recognition within the movement was formalized in October 1926 with the establishment of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary.
Father Kentenich was arrested and sent to the Dachau Concentration Camp in 1941, where he began to spread the message of the Schoenstatt Movement to fellow prisoners.
The picture of Mother Thrice Admirable ("Mater ter Admirabilis" in Latin) was donated by a teacher in 1915. It was painted in 1898 by Luigi Crosio for the Swiss printing house, Kunzli Brothers, who produced prints of the image under the title "Refuge of Sinners".
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