200th Anniversary of the Birth of St. Conrad of Parzham

Altötting (Germany). This past April 21 was the feast of St. Conrad, but this year the day was extra special because it marked the 200th anniversary of his birth in 1818, in Parzham, Lower Bavaria. Johann Birndorfer, as he was known before entering the Order, lived his first thirty-one years in this village, which was a place deeply marked by Christian values. In 1849 he knocked on the door of the friary of the Capuchins in Altötting, where he was received as a postulant and thus began his journey of religious life. In 1851 he began the novitiate in the friary of Laufen, where he made his first profession on October 4, 1852. Right away the young Br. Conrad was assigned to the friary in Altötting for the delicate service of porter, in the shadow of the celebrated Marian shrine of Bavaria.

“In this way we see in outline how Br. Conrad realized one of the resolutions, the eleventh that he had formulated before his religious profession: “I wish to be always committed to having an interior devotion to the most Blessed Virgin Mary and to make an effort in imitating her virtues.’” (Br. Carlo Calloni)

In fact, it was at Altötting that Br. Conrad spent the rest of his life, looking after the friary door and knowing how to make of it, “a fitting place for his own sanctification as well as the edification of all who came knocking … that sampling of humanity that arrived, as if to a secure harbor, in the heart of the Capuchin friar, the porter of Providence.” (Ibid.) It was also at Altötting that Br. Conrad concluded his earthly pilgrimage on April 21, 1894. Pope Pius XI enrolled him among the canonized on May 20, 1934.

Therefore it is easy to see why the Capuchins of Bavaria wanted to celebrate this year’s feast with particular solemnity, inviting also the friars of the Provinces of Northern Europe to honor the humble porter by making the pilgrimage to Altötting. The General Minister of the Capuchin Friars, Br. Mauro Jöhri, was present and presided at the solemn Masses of Saturday evening, April 21, and Sunday, April 22, in the presence of a large number of pilgrims. On Saturday morning the bishop of Passau, Most Rev. Stefan Oster, consecrated the new altar of the church dedicated to St. Conrad, which for the occasion was reopened to the faithful after a full renovation. Finally, on Monday, April 23 the friars went in pilgrimage first of all to Parzham, where they visited the house where St. Conrad was born, and then had a chance to visit also the birthplace of Pope Benedict XVI.

Photo – br. Marek Machudera OFMCap

Photo gallery - Altötting, Germania, I 200 anni di San Corrado da Parzham, 2018.04.21.