Schönstatt is a “Covenant of Love” with the Mother of God

In Schönstatt, a small village on the banks of the Rhine River in Germany, at the beginning of the 20th century, Father Joseph Kentenich was teaching Latin and German at the Pallotins school. He was 25 years old and had just been ordained a priest. However, he was soon noticed by his superiors and became the school's spiritual father.

In the light of the Marian spirituality of Saint Louis de Montfort, Kentenich suggested that his pupils place themselves under the protection of the Virgin Mary and walk with her, in order to go to Jesus.

In 1914, the students and their spiritual father together drew up the statutes for a new Marian Congregation, which was soon approved by the diocese of Trier. 

On the eve of the First World War, Father Kentenich, with some twenty of his students who were about to go to war, met in the medieval chapel in the Schönstatt valley. Together, they sealed a “Covenant of Love” with the Mother of God, whom Father Kentenich asked to establish her throne in the little chapel.

This took place on October 18, 1914: it was the founding act of Schönstatt. The little chapel became the place of recognition for the Schönstatt Marian movement.

It soon became a place of pilgrimage, and pilgrims began to flock there in ever-increasing numbers.

Marian Encyclopedia