Fr. Joseph Kentenich was born November 18, 1885, in Gymnich, a small village near Cologne, Germany. Raised and educated in an orphanage from the ages of eight to 18, he had already decided by the age of 12 to become a Catholic priest. On October 18, 1914, just two months after the outbreak of WWI, with a small group of high school Pallottine Seminarians, Fr. Kentenich founded what was to become known as the International Schoenstatt Movement. “Schoenstatt,” in German, means “a beautiful place.”

The goal was to take an abandoned cemetery chapel named after St. Michael and establish a small and intimate Marian Shrine, a consecrated physical place, a spiritual home, a place of pilgrimage. Fr. Kentenich’s vision was that initially the boys, but ultimately the church and the world, through the graces of the Schoenstatt Shrine, could directly experience through a Covenant of Love with the Blessed Mother how much Mary has to offer when she is freely invited to actively take part in our lives. Text from www.Schoenstatt-Austin.us