SCHOENSTATT, mkf. July 18th was the 95th Anniversary of a key event in the history of the Original Shrine: On July 18, 1914, Father Kentenich read an article in the newspaper about Pompeii, a Marian pilgrimage place located in the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii, which told of Our Lady of Pompeii who “had worked irrefutable miracles”. Moreover, it explained how the biggest miracle was that in the year 1871 an unknown lawyer founded a pilgrimage place over the ruins of the godless city in modern Italy.
In July of 1914, the old Chapel of Saint Michael’s in the Schoenstatt Valley was placed at the disposal of the “Marian Congregation” founded in April of that same year. 
Father Kentenich connected this act with the article about Pompeii, which awakened a question in his heart: “Could it also be possible, that God had special designs for this little chapel at this place?” In a certain sense, it could be said the Schoenstatt emerged because Father Kentenich read the newspaper regularly.
Ninety-five years later, “the irrefutable miracles” of the Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt can be “read” in the innumerable stories that have been experienced in the Covenant of Love. On July 18, 2009, Cristina Tagle from the founding Chilean Schoenstatt generation wrote: Each up-date of schoenstatt.de demonstrates the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign, visits to the Original Shrine, and to Father’s tomb…all of them show love for Schoenstatt, Father, the Shrine…we are slowly penetrating and changing the world.
A blast from the past echoing the same note
A few hours later, Sarah-Leah Pimentel, from South Africa wrote: “Searching for an article in the schoenstatt.de archives, I found some articles about what is essential in Schoenstatt that we: a seminarian from Rome, a Sister of Mary from Argentina, and I, a young girl from South Africa, wrote three years [ago]. Three very different people concluded that the Covenant of Love was the nucleus of everything. They also spoke about walking together holding Father’s hand, about offering our charism to the universal church, and uniting ourselves with Father as a united family. This was written years before the Conference, and it sounds like its echo. The same thing happened with a letter written in 2005 about an article published two weeks ago that mentioned the worldwide pilgrimage of the Father Symbol. Now I understand even more why the Conference was like a Cenacle experience, because it was not simply 100 people who spoke about what mobilized us, rather, it spoke about what is alive in the collective soul of the entire Movement. I am certain that we always find the soul of the Movement on schoenstatt de. The Holy Spirit guides us in what is alive in the most profound being of the international family.”
United in the sunshine of the Covenant of Love
What is alive in the most profound being of Schoenstatt was “breathed” again this past 18th around the Original Shrine on an especially beautiful Covenant Day after hours of cloudy skies and light rain, ended with a sunny afternoon.
In the morning, the Mass in the Original Shrine was again transmitted live through www.schoenstatt-tv.de. The yearning for the Original Shrine and the desire to renew the Covenant of Love at this special place awakens many at an unusual time in order to be present.
About sixty people gathered in the afternoon at 4:00 p.m. to pray the Illuminated Rosary at the Adoration Church. There are a great number of people who do not belong to the Movement yet participate every time the Illuminated Rosary is prayed; sometimes they travel a half an hour just to participate! The petitions as always are a mirror of everything that touches and worries the people, which is personally expressed in this rosary and presented to the Blessed Mother and her Son: unemployment, serious illnesses, marriages in crisis. It was chilling to hear an older lady express her gratitude with tears in her eyes that her husband had died peacefully after much suffering, or moving to hear Brother Paul Hannappel pray for Father Facundo and the Boys’ Youth from Argentina, who received “almost 2kg. of grenade pieces from the field where Joseph Engling died, and they wanted to pray a rosary for each gram “to show that the spirit of the heroes is still alive.”
Unity that transcends place and language
Like every Saturday, at 5:30 p.m. the International Rosary was prayed at the Original Shrine – this time in Portuguese – led by pilgrims from Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A course of Sisters of Mary who were participating in their tertiary accompanied the rosary with songs in German and Spanish, and several young men from Chile, Argentina, and Mexico responded very well in Spanish. They prayed for all the sick of the Schoenstatt Family, for the deceased, and especially for the couple, the Ponce de Leóns from Tucumán, Argentina who died in an automobile accident.
Then Father Joao from Rio de Janeiro blessed everyone present and everyone who had sent their petitions to the Original Shrine.
Renewing the Covenant of Love
At 7:30 p.m., everyone gathered, like on every 18th, at the Pilgrims’ Church for the Covenant Mass. The pilgrims from Rio de Janeiro also attended, and they were very happy to participate in the readings and presentation of petitions. Two young men from Mexico sang some of the songs of the Mass in Spanish accompanied by guitars, and they also sang during the renewal of the Covenant of Love in the Original Shrine. Among the large number of people who participated this afternoon, the presence of a 
Brazilian professor who has lived in Boppard about 50 Km from Schoenstatt for twenty-five years has to be highlighted, and he was finally invited to visit Schoenstatt by the pilgrims from Brazil when they met him during their visit to his city. He happily participated, and he asked for nothing less than the text of the Consecration Prayer in Portuguese and German!
Translation: Celina Garza, San Antonio, USA/amj
- Video of the Holy Mass in the Original Shrine in the morning in the media center of www.schoenstatt-tv.de , date July 18
- Videos of the Illuminated Rosary
- Video of the international Rosary in the Original Shrine
- Videos of the Renewal of the Covenant of Love in the Original Shrine
- Photo album July 18 in Schoenstatt
