Fr H.P. Lecher, GERMANY. In the context of the twentieth anniversary of Schoenstatt’s foundation in 1934, the idea arose of discovering the remains of the co-founders of the Marian Sodality in the College at Schoenstatt who had fallen in battle in World War I, and bringing them home from France to the Original Shrine. The aim of “bringing the Hero Sodalists home” was to re-discover the spirit of the beginnings. Our Jubilee Pilgrimage in 2014 also began with reassuring ourselves of the spirit of the beginnings, and included the grateful remembrance of our dear departed in the hundred years of Schoenstatt’s history. Where are we to dig? We no longer look for the graves of the soldiers. We dig in our memories, we remember what may not be forgotten, and publish biographies of outstanding Schoenstatters. We also “dig” in our archives …
For some years now I have worked in the archives of the Schoenstatt Fathers (Sion Province) with the documents of the Marian Sodality in the College. Jokingly but seriously it was said: For the celebration of 500 years of Schoenstatt’s history. Even then the original documents should be available, and not just electronic derivatives! The “consecration formula” for the majority of sodalists accepted into the Sodality still exist. Each candidate made a handwritten copy of their consecration to Mary. Who stands out most? Joseph Engling? Certainly. Max Brunner and Hans Wormer? That precisely their remains could be identified and secured was an act of Providence, if not actually of chance. Since they had fallen relatively early in the War, the army was able to give them the “luxury” of an individual grave. Later the fallen were buried in mass graves.
Who was the first?
Among the 209 names of the “Founder Sodalists”, that is, those who knew Fr Kentenich from 1914-1919, there is one who leads the alphabetic list. His name is Nikolaus Aatz. He was born in 1899 in northern Saarland, and died on 24 November 1916 in the hospital at Vallendar. Like Esser, Wormer, Girke, Bönki, Hagel and others, he was in the same class as Joseph Engling, and together with Engling made the Sodality Consecration on 11 April 1915 in the Original Shrine, shortly after the MTA picture was put up there. Alphabetically he was the first, and somehow the “first best”, because he had a special surname that reached from A to Z. Does that make him a representative of all the many “little, insignificant” Schoenstatters? Our Schoenstatt VIP’s?
First the poor
Nikolaus was unable to carry out any conspicuous acts of heroism. On 8 December 1915 he again handed in the renewal of his consecration. On it he wrote “Renewed on my sickbed in Vallendar Hospital on 8 Dec. 1915.” It is possible that in between he had been able to return to the College, but a year later he died in the Vallendar Hospital. He was buried in the nearby Vallendar Cemetery (opposite the parish church) on 27 November 1916. In a letter written that same day Fr Kentenich wrote to Josef Fischer, the first Prefect of the Sodality, “I have just come from the funeral of our young Sodalist Aatz …”
First the poor: It is probable that his family circumstances were the reason why he was not sent home on account of his illness, which is what happened to many of the students and Sodalists. From his memorial card we know that the funeral took place from 3.30 p.m. with a procession from the hospital to his grave. Our Founder accompanied him. It seems to me that he tells us people of today, “I was at his funeral. Look after his grave!” It no longer exists. According to the cemetery register it was Nr 1323, but it is impossible to discover its position today. However, would it not be possible to assume responsibility in some way for caring for his grave?
Close to where Joseph Engling died in Cambrai there is an “Engling Memorial”. We don’t have a grave to care for. Yet he is all the more powerfully remembered throughout the Schoenstatt world. And Nikolaus? Joseph’s dear “friend Klaus from A to Z”? A Schoenstatt “grave of a (hitherto) unknown Sodalist” at the Vallendar cemetery?
First the poor! I suggest that at our great Jubilee Pilgrimage 2014 the “heroes” are among the “also-rans”. To start with our “Holy Souls” in this world and the next are already on the way in the first group in the precession. Those who have returned home to our Schoenstatt heaven will be remembered (re-condare = take to heart) and in this way brought home to our earthly Schoenstatt in a huge “return current” to original Schoenstatt.
Nikolaus Aatz first of all. We could also build him a memorial, or even better, “in his name” we could build a memorial to honour all “Schoenstatters from A to Z”. With your blessing, Klaus? With your signature? As with your consecration renewal in 1915:
A Schoenstatt memorial for all
It would become a Schoenstatt memorial for all, from Elmar Agosti to Alois Zeppenfeld, fromArgentina to Zimbabwe, from far and near, from dawn (1914) to dusk (2014). We could translate Klaus’ surname in internet jargon as A@Z – and in his name collect the whole fullness of Life@Schoenstatt, that is, “Schoenstatt Lived” as it was, is and remains. May God reward you first members `– Joseph, Max, Hans, all of you – and may he especially reward you for your loyalty, friend “Klaus A to Z”. We guard your legacy! Those words mark the grave of Albert Eise, our “excavator. He, too, not only took up the spade, but also, at the expressed wish of Fr Kentenich in 1928 “to write the life of your friend Wilhelm Girke”, used the typewriter. He did all he could and presented seventy pages, which have in the meantime been “excavated”, edited and supplemented in the archive. We could, for example, get to know Klaus and Engling’s classmate, Willi, in the near future. Yet there are many more Schoenstatt treasures that wait to be excavated and presented (in the service of the mission).
Contact: lechler@schoenstatt-patres.org
Saints of Everyday Life on schoenstatt.org
Whoever understands Spanish, English or Portuguese will discover that something like a memorial – entitled “Saints of Everyday Life” – has existed since 2010 on schoenstatt.org. So far 21 people from almost a hundred years of Schoenstatt’s history are introduced there with a brief biography:
What did the covenant of love make of them?
What did they do with and make of the covenant of love?
The new category “People” also offers a number of biographies of how the covenant of love has been lived. By 2014 a hundred people should be found here. There is still a lot to do!
