17 September 2020 · 2020-09 newsletter
On 4th October, we commemorate the death of Joseph Engling on the battlefield near Cambrai, France in 1918. His death, coupled with the total offering of his life on 31st May, 1918 for our Mother Thrice Admirable and for her mission, gave the Schoenstatt Movement its first outstanding witness.
Although Joseph was not present in the Shrine on the 18th of October 1914, he entered deeply into the covenant of love with Our Lady and made Schoenstatt his life. This axis of his short life became a living faithfulness to the Mother Thrice Admirable in her shrine and to the founder, which was expressed in offering of the sacrifice of his life to Our Lady, expressly for the Movement founded by his spiritual father – Father Kentenich and for Schoenstatt’s mission. This offering of his life to the Mother Thrice Admirable, has since become known as “The Joseph Engling Act” and God accepted this sacrifice of his life on the evening of 4th October 1918.
It has long been the conviction of the Schoenstatt Family, that Joseph Engling is the most outstanding of Fr. Kentenich’s young co-workers of that earliest period when the Movement was being founded. Joseph had lived the covenant to such a degree that he became, in Father Kentenich’s words, “the classic example of the new man in the new community” whom Schoenstatt wanted to fashion.
The process of his beatification began on 4th October 1952 and the documentation for his beatification was submitted to the Holy See on 7th October 1964.
Remembrances of Joseph Engling in Schoenstatt…
1. Memorial Stone with the Joseph Engling Plaque
Just beyond the Marienau Shrine (Shrine of the Diocesan Priests Apostolic Union) is a memorial stone which marks the place to which Father Kentenich usually accompanied the sodalists after their visits to Schoenstatt when they had to return to their barracks or travel to the battlefield.
It was to this point that Fr. Kentenich accompanied Joseph on his last visit to Schoenstatt.
The date on the memorial stone is 30th July, 1918 – the date of Joseph’s last visit to Schoenstatt,
2. The heroes’ graves, and the monument to Joseph Engling behind the Original Shrine remind us that “Schoenstatt stands and falls with people who really strive for holiness and who bring this striving for holiness into connection with our shrine.” (J. Kentenich)
The lamp on the Joseph Engling stone is a symbol for all those who offer their lives for Schoenstatt. The written motto says: “We hold on to your inheritance.”
These are all symbols of the special feature of this pilgrimage place in Schoenstatt that ‘it will cease to be a place of grace if each generation does not become a founding generation, if each generation does not newly found the Capital of Grace”. (J. Kentenich)
3. The Joseph Engling Memorial Stone at Mount Schoenstatt, Australia
Beside the Shrine at Mount Schoenstatt we also have a memorial to Joseph Engling.
The Young Men and Senior Boys’ Youth gave this memorial stone and the inscription “We preserve your heritage” as a crowning gift to the Blessed Mother in 1974 when she was crowned as Mother Thrice Admirable, Queen and Victress of Schoenstatt in the Entrance Hall of the Joseph Kentenich House. They offered themselves to the Blessed Mother and prayed that the Joseph Engling Memorial Stone would always remind them of their wish and striving to be loyal to their Mother and Queen.
Many will remember that the Boys’ Training Centre, owned by the Schoenstatt Fathers and situated adjacent to Mount Schoenstatt, was known as the “Joseph Engling Centre”.
It was important for our youth, both boys and girls, to remember the spiritual legacy left by Joseph Engling. In Fr. Kentenich’s own words, Joseph Engling was the “lived founding document’.
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