19 October 2021 · 2021-10 newsletter
At 5pm on Sunday 18th October, 1914, Father Kentenich gave a talk during the first ecclesial (in-chapel) meeting of the Marian Sodality held in the new quarters of the St. Michael’s chapel.
After the talk everything remained much as it had previously. The boys were caught up in everyday life and its extraordinary challenges at that time, and no one mentioned this talk again for months. Father Kentenich too kept silent about the talk. One of the main reasons was that he wanted to know whether a source of grace had really broken through on the 18th October. He believed this would become evident through the life that was awakened in the boys, the “creative resultants”. There is no doubt that the founder himself was always fully conscious of the importance of the date and the event of 18 October 1914.
It was only in the 1920s that the Schoenstatt Movement gradually became aware of the fact that Schoenstatt had actually been founded on 18 October 1914. Previously this date had not been recognised as the foundation day of Schoenstatt and it seems that the fifteenth anniversary of the foundation (1929) was the first time it was celebrated.
It is thought that 28 boys were present from the senior sodality, although this number could have been 32. However, whether the number of boys attending this founding talk of Schoenstatt was 28 or 32 or 54 boys, it is still amazing to appreciate that from this small beginning, (the smallness of the instruments) we can see “the greatness of the success” – a great world-wide Schoenstatt Movement that has emerged from these humble beginnings. Surely we can say with great confidence that Schoenstatt must truly be a work of the hand of God.
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