First Schoenstatt Wayside Shrine of the Diocese of Mainz, Germany, Had 50th BirthdayGolden Jubilee Celebrated in Herbstein with approximately 200 Pilgrims |
GERMANY, Ruth Kutzmann/mkf. Fifty years since the Wayside Shrine of the Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt was erected in Herbstein, the first wayside shrine of this sort in the diocese of Mainz: this was celebrated on the 5th of May with approximately 200 pilgrims present by thethe festively decorated wayside srhine in the forest near the Kolping Village by Herbstein, Germany. In May, 1952 Fr. Josef Lerch had dedicated the first wayside shrine in Herbstein. Parishioners, Schoenstätters, amd Upper-Hessian Kolping families had come to celebrate 50 years of the inauguration of this first wayside Shrine. The celebration began with a devotion in the chapel of the Kolping Village to which Father Disser greeted all warmly. Not Religious Knowledge, but Religious Life is what MattersThe director of the Schoenstatt family of the diocese of Mainz, Father Balthasar Blumers, pointed in his address at the importance of a wayside shrine for a parish. Not the religious knowledge but rather religious life matters before God and the others. The Mother of God, Mary, was from the beginning of her life a "target" of God's mercy, in their hand we should construct a better world. This had been also the objective of the young persons who had exerted themselves in 1952 for the establishment of the first wayside shrine. At that time a group of the Schönstatt Girl's Youth which had formed in 1946 in Herbstein, was responsible for the spiritual and material conquering of the wayside shrine. Inspired by the idea of the universal apostolate, the young women, 16, 17 years old at that time, committed themselves to the service of the parish. For years, the general parish youth work in Herbstein was entrusted to them. From the girl's group of that time, a Schoenstatt Mothers' group developed that is committed to the life of the parish. Pilgrimage to the Wayside ShrineThe wayside shrine of 1952 was from wood, the wood being donated by a local family. In 1989, a new wayside shrine was established, this time more weather-proof, from basalt, a donation of a local quarry enterprise. Father Werner Krimm who dedicated the wayside shrine, meant, he had never seen such a beautiful one! Two women from the Schoenstatt Mother's group of the municipality - the group that had developed from the Girl's group of that time - use to decorate the wayside shrine in the forest with love and faithfulness. After the devotion in the chapel all made a pilgrimage to the wayside shrine, festively decorated with a garland and blossoms. Ruth Kutzmann gave a review on the birth of this wayside shrine, and songs and prayers rang out in honor of the Mother of God. A coffee board formed the closing of the party in the Kolping village, with forty cakes baked by the mothers! |
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