BIENHEUREUX ADOLPHE KOLPING
Prêtre à Cologne (+ 1845)
À Cologne en Rhénanie, l'an 1845, le bienheureux
Adolphe Kolping, prêtre. Avec le souci ardent des ouvriers et de la justice
sociale, il fonda une association de jeunes travailleurs et la diffusa en
beaucoup d'endroits.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/11238/Bienheureux-Adolphe-Kolping.html
ADOLPH KOLPING
Prêtre, Fondateur,
Bienheureux
ADOLPH KOLPING
Prêtre, Fondateur,
Bienheureux
SOURCE : http://nova.evangelisation.free.fr/leblanc_adolph_kolping.htm
Sarcophage d’Adolph Kolping, Minoritenkirche, Cologne
Allemagne: Le pape encourage les membres de
l´association du Bx Kolping
Un précurseur de l´enseignement social de l´Eglise
catholique
OCTOBRE 25, 2001 00:00
CITE DU VATICAN, Jeudi 25 octobre 2001 (ZENIT.org) – Le bienheureux Adolph Kolping
(1813-1865) a « anticipé », a affirmé Jean-Paul II, sur
l´enseignement social de l´Eglise catholique. Il encourageait ses disciples à
poursuivre son témoignage aujourd´hui.
Le pape a reçu ce matin en audience place Saint-Pierre
quelque 13.000 membres de la « Famille Kolping international », à dix
ans de la béatification.
Jean-Paul II s´était recueilli sur la tombe du
fondateur en l´église des Franciscains de Cologne, le 15 novembre 1980, lors de
l´un de ses voyages en Allemagne. Le P. Adolph Kölping a été béatifié en 1991.
Selon la revue Magnificat, ce prêtre surnommé « le Don Bosco allemand » a été
le fondateur et l’organisateur de nombreuses œuvres sociales qu’il confiait à
la gestion des laïcs. Cet ensemble est actuellement constitué de quelque 4.000
organisations – « familles » – présentes dans une cinquantaine de
pays et comptant environ 42.000 adhérents.
Les fruits spirituels laissés en héritage par le P.
Kolping ont été évoqués ce matin par le pape. Son œuvre est répandue dans 52
pays et compte sur la collaboration de quelque 450.000 volontaires.
L´oeuvre était à l´origine centrée sur l´artisanat.
L´association a ensuite étendu ses activités à d´autres secteurs
professionnels. En 1968, naissait une nouvelle branche pour les questions du
Tiers Monde.
« Il est important, disait Kolping, d´apporter le
christianisme à la vie sociale réelle,
selon son esprit et sa mise en œuvre pratique ». Le pape rappelait ce matin ces paroles du prêtre allemand, remerciait ses disciples engagés à sa suite et les exhortait à ne pas se laisser décourager dans leur témoignage.
OCTOBRE 25, 2001 00:00ÉGLISE
CATHOLIQUE
Also known as
Father of All Apprentices
Apostle of Working Men
Profile
Son of a poor shepherd. Apprenticed to
a shoemaker. Studied in Munich, Bonn and Cologne in Germany. Ordained on 10 April 1845.
Chaplain of Saint Laurentius parish,
Elberfeld, Germany from 1845 to 1849.
Founded several Catholic apprentice associations,
one of which became the International Kolping Society with all its
national and local organizations. Worked to improve the physical and spiritual
lives of craftsmen and
their apprentices.
Worked with youth,
and to improve family life. Vicar of the cathedral in Cologne. Rector of
Saint Maria Empfängnis Church, Cologne in 1862.
Born
8 December 1813 at
Kerpend, Germany
4 December 1865 at Cologne, Germany of
natural causes
buried in
the Church of the Minor Friars, Saint Maria Empfängnis, Cologne
13 May 1989 by Pope John
Paul II
27 October 1991 by Pope John
Paul II in Rome, Italy
Additional Information
books
Adolf
Kolping, The Apostle of Working Men, by Ellis Schreiber
other sites in english
images
video
sitios en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
Almighty, everlasting God! You gave us Blessed Adolph
Kolping as an intercessor and role model. His life found fulfilment in his
concern for the young people in religious and social difficulties. For many he
was an untiring pastor, a fatherly advisor, a patient teacher and a true
friend. He set us an example in his love for your Son. In his loyalty to the
Church he is an exemplary role model for us. His concern was to understand
work, family and society in the light of our faith. He considered helping one
another within the community to be the expression of the Christian love for
one’s neighbour. From the Holy Scripture, the sacraments and prayer he drew the
strength to create a movement that is to serve You and mankind. At all times
you have called us to help establish your kingdom. We therefore beseech you:
help us work together to overcome poverty, injustice and hopelessness. Through
the intercession of Blessed Adolph Kolping, help us to defend human life and
protect marriage and family. As members of the International Kolping Society in
the community of your Church let us be the salt of the earth and the light of
the world. Fulfill our hope of being able to honour Adolph Kolping as a Saint
throughout the whole church in all languages and nations. Let us, through
faith, hope and love, work towards bringing your kingdom in this world, just as
Adolph Kolping did. This we ask of You, through Christ, our Lord. Amen. –
prayer for the canonization of Blessed Adolph
MLA Citation
“Blessed Adolph Kolping“. CatholicSaints.Info. 4
May 2020. Web. 3 December 2021. <http://catholicsaints.info/blessed-adolph-kolping/>
SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/blessed-adolph-kolping/
Blessed Adolph Kolping’s
Story
The rise of the factory
system in 19th-century Germany brought many single men into cities where they
faced new challenges to their faith. Father Adolph Kolping began a ministry to
them, hoping that they would not be lost to the Catholic faith, as was
happening to workers elsewhere in industrialized Europe.
Born in the village of
Kerpen, Adolph became a shoemaker at an early age because of his family’s
economic situation. Ordained in 1845, he ministered to young workers in
Cologne, establishing a choir, which by 1849 had grown into the Young Workmen’s
Society. A branch of this began in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1856. Nine years
later there were over 400 Gesellenvereine—workman’s societies—around the
world. Today this group has over 450,000 members in 54 countries across the
globe.
More commonly called the
Kolping Society, it emphasizes the sanctification of family life and the
dignity of labor. Father Kolping worked to improve conditions for workers and
greatly assisted those in need. He and St. John Bosco in Turin had similar interests
in working with young men in big cities. He told his followers, “The needs of
the times will teach you what to do.” Father Kolping once said, “The first
thing that a person finds in life and the last to which he holds out his hand,
and the most precious that he possesses, even if he does not realize it, is
family life.”
Blessed Adolph Kolping
and Blessed John Duns Scotus are buried in Cologne’s Minoritenkirche,
originally served by the Conventual Franciscans. The Kolping Society’s
international headquarters are located across from this church.
Kolping members journeyed
to Rome from Europe, America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, for Father Kolping’s
beatification in 1991, the 100th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s revolutionary
encyclical “Rerum Novarum”—“On the Social Order.” Father Kolping’s personal
witness and apostolate helped prepare for that encyclical.
Reflection
Some people thought that
Father Kolping was wasting his time and talents on young working men in
industrialized cities. In some countries, the Catholic Church was seen by many
workers as the ally of owners and the enemy of workers. Men like Adolph Kolping
showed that was not true.
SOURCE : https://www.franciscanmedia.org/blessed-adolph-kolping/
Gedenktafel
an der Nikolaikapelle in Soest
Bl. Adolf Kolping
(1813-1865)
In Europe, from medieval
times on, those who made their living as craftsmen were not trained in craft
schools but taken on as pupils by experts in the particular skill. After they
had-served for a term as learners (apprentices) and passed the required tests,
they went forth as “journeymen” to work as employees of others of the craft.
Finally, when they had served this internship and demonstrated their skill,
they were advanced to the rank of “masters.” Then they normally established
their own workshops and businesses.
This craft system had
arisen in a rural and largely agricultural society. The arrival of the
industrial revolution in the last century did not result in the abandonment of
the European craft tradition as it did in America through the factory system,
but it did pose increasing social, economic, and religious problems for the
aspiring young tradesmen. Particularly was this true in the German-speaking
countries.
Father Adolf Kolping
detected this need of working youth, and sought to answer it by establishing
Catholic societies for the protection and training of young craftsmen.
Kolping, born near
Cologne, Germany, was the son of poor parents. Although by nature inclined to a
studious life, he had to learn the craft of shoemaking to support himself. But
even though cobblers had a 12-hour workday, Adolf made time to complete his
secondary studies and pass on to the universities of Munich and Bonn. More than
that, he studied for the priesthood, to which he had experienced an attraction.
Ordained a diocesan
priest in 1845 at age 32, Kolping was assigned as a curate in the poor
industrial city of Elberfeld. There he saw at firsthand what he, as a
craftsman, was especially able to appreciate: the economic, cultural and
spiritual needs of novice tradesmen. He met many of them in an Elberfeld youth
organization, and discovered that youth societies of the sort could provide a
good solution for many problems faced by struggling young skilled laborers.
In 1849, Father Kolping
was transferred to the staff of the Cologne Cathedral. It was in Cologne that
he developed his plan of multiplying “friendship” societies for junior
workingmen. His purpose was to raise the intellectual, social, and spiritual
status of working youth, to prepare them to become leading citizens themselves,
and thus gradually to raise the quality of the whole working class. Political
discussions and religious polemics were forbidden to the members in the local
groups; prayer, study and self-improvement were the staples.
As the idea proved to
work, Kolping established branch societies in many other German cities, and in
Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. Many local
societies had their own residences or “Kolping Houses,” where a loving home
atmosphere was maintained. There the working residents and journeymen en route
knew they would find a ready welcome. In the nineteenth century, the
organization was carried abroad from Cologne to Australia, South Africa, and
the Americas.
In the USA the first
Kolping societies were organized in 1859. The organizers were usually German
immigrants. The “Kolping Family” membership has three sections: married men, a
ladies’ auxiliary, and the young-adult group. Each unit is governed by a priest
director, subject to the central director in Cologne. The American Kolping
Families continue to be largely German in orientation. Worldwide, the societies
now number 3500, in 38 countries, with an international membership of 370,000.
About 20 of these Families are in the United States. (A leader in the Rochester
branch was the late Leo Saeum of St. Thomas the Apostle parish.)
Fr. Adolf Kolping, devout
and hard-working, is reminiscent of St. Vincent de Paul, in that he brought
forth a pragmatic spiritual response to perceived social needs. The young
German workers of his day needed encouragement and spiritual guidance.
Convinced that “religion and work are the golden foundation of the people,” he
provided that foundation, and his institute helped countless workers to become
conscientious, well-educated, and responsible citizens.
Since Fr. Kolping’s
death, his tomb in Cologne’s Minoriten (Franciscan) Church has been a center of
pilgrimage, and his devotees have appropriately prayed for his canonization.
Their prayer was partly granted on October 27, 1991, when Pope John Paul II beatified
Fr. Adolf as Blessed Adolf Kolping. Rochester’s Kolping Family was represented
at the ceremony.
Since 1991, the devotees
of this great social leader have been working for his canonization.
–Father Robert F.
McNamara
About Adolph Kolping
The International Kolping
Society was founded by Adolph Kolping as a Catholic, educational and
action-oriented organization. He was born on December 8, 1813, in Kerpen, a
small village not far from Cologne. His Father, Peter Kolping, was a shepherd
for a well-to-do farmer. In school Adolph Kolping proved an able student, but
because the family was poor he was unable to further his education. He took up
an apprenticeship as a shoemaker, but his desire for higher education never
ceased. At the age of 23, after working for ten years as a shoemaker, he entered
secondary school. Adolph had been a sickly child and continues to suffer from
poor health. Yet despite this fact, he managed to complete his education in
record time.
It was Adolph Kolping’s
wish to become a priest. During his secondary school years he was able to
realize his vocation and what was to be his role in life. In the summer of
1841, he began his studies in theology at the University of Munich. As his
father died the night before his ordination, the joyous day that was to be
shared by father and son was instead one of sadness. On April 13, 1845, Adolph
Kolping was ordained in the Minorite Church in Cologne.
On his first assignment
in Elberfeld he met Gragor Breuer, a school teacher who had set up an
organization for journeymen. In 1847, Father Kolping was elected Praeses of
this association. He had intended to lead an academic life, but his work with
the journeymen made him realize that God had called him to devote his life and
efforts to the young people and their organization.
A transfer to Cologne in
1849 enabled him to enlarge the journeymen’s organization. As rector of the
cathedral, Father Kolping had more time to devote to travel and writing
articles, which gained him recognition as a writer and journalist. Through his
example and efforts the journeymen’s organization grew. By 1865, over 400 local
groups of the journeymen’s organization had been established and were
functioning throughout Europe and in America.
In 1862, Father Kolping
was placed in charge of the Minorite Church. His devotion to his calling and
his determination to further his work caused him to neglect his health, a
factor which may have contributed to his early death, at the age of 51, on
December 4, 1865. Father Adolph Kolping was laid to rest in the Minorite
Church, a church he had saved from demolition.
His legacy to us is his
life’s work, his ideals and goals, but most important, his own example in
recognizing his vocation, in making a personal commitment to his calling and
carrying it to fulfilment. No obstacles are too great to overcome if we have
faith, work hard and are willing to make sacrifices.
On August 8, 1906 the
Archbishop of Vienna, Anton Joseph Cardinal Gruscha, a long time friend and
confidant of Kolping, took the first step towards the canonization of Father
Kolping. He handed a detailed petition to the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal
Fischer, for the initiation of the beatification process. The circumstances of the
times – both political and religious – did not permit the process to continue.
After the Second World War these efforts were resumed and finally, on January
22, 1991, Pope John Paul II signed the documents for his beatification. The
beatification ceremony took place in Rome on October 27, 1991.
During his visit to
Germany in 1980, Pope John Paul II visited Adolph Kolping’s tomb in the
Minorite Church in Cologne. Referring to the significance of the blessed and
the saints in our lives, he said:”We need models like Adolph Kolping in today’s
Church.” These words of our Holy Father express precisely the purpose of the
beatification of Adolph Kolping.
SOURCE : http://www.kolping.org/about/
Briefmarke (1965) zum
100. Todestag Adolph Kolpings
Blessed Adolph Kolping
The International Kolping
Society was founded by Blessed Adolph
Kolping as a Catholic, educational and action-oriented organization.
He was born on December 8, 1813, in Kerpen, a small village not far from
Cologne. His Father, Peter Kolping, was a shepherd for a well-to-do farmer. In
school Adolph Kolping proved an able student, but because the family was poor
he was unable to further his education. He took up an apprenticeship as a
shoemaker, but his desire for higher education never ceased. At the age of 23,
after working for ten years as a shoemaker, he entered secondary school. Adolph
had been a sickly child and continues to suffer from poor health. Yet despite
this fact, he managed to complete his education in record time.
It was Adolph Kolping's
wish to become a priest. During his secondary school years he was able to realize
his vocation and what was to be his role in life. In the summer of 1841, he
began his studies in theology at the University of Munich. As his father died
the night before his ordination, the joyous day that was to be shared by father
and son was instead one of sadness. On April 13, 1845, Adolph
Kolping was ordained in the Minorite Church in Cologne.
On his first assignment
in Elberfeld he met Gragor Breuer, a school teacher who had set up an
organization for journeymen. In 1847, Father Kolping was elected Praeses of
this association. He had intended to lead an academic life, but his work with
the journeymen made him realize that God had called him to devote his life and
efforts to the young people and their organization.
A transfer to Cologne in
1849 enabled him to enlarge the journeymen's organization. As rector of the
cathedral, Father Kolping had more time to devote to travel and writing
articles, which gained him recognition as a writer and journalist. Through his
example and efforts the journeymen's organization grew. By 1865, over 400 local
groups of the journeymen's organization had been established and were
functioning throughout Europe and in America.
In 1862, Father
Kolping was placed in charge of the Minorite Church. His devotion to
his calling and his determination to further his work caused him to neglect his
health, a factor which may have contributed to his early death, at the age of
51, on December 4, 1865. Father Adolph Kolping was laid to rest in the Minorite
Church, a church he had saved from demolition.
His legacy to us is his
life's work, his ideals and goals, but most important, his own example in
recognizing his vocation, in making a personal commitment to his calling and
carrying it to fulfilment. No obstacles are too great to overcome if we have faith,
work hard and are willing to make sacrifices.
On August 8, 1906 the
Archbishop of Vienna, Anton Joseph Cardinal Gruscha, a long time friend and
confidant of Kolping, took the first step towards the canonization of Father
Kolping. He handed a detailed petition to the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal
Fischer, for the initiation of the beatification process. The circumstances of
the times - both political and religious - did not permit the process to
continue. After the Second World War these efforts were resumed and finally, on
January 22, 1991, Pope John Paul II signed the documents for his beatification.
The beatification ceremony took place in Rome on October 27, 1991.
During his visit to
Germany in 1980, Pope John Paul II visited Adolph Kolping's tomb in the
Minorite Church in Cologne. Referring to the significance of the blessed and
the saints in our lives, he said: "We need models like Adolph Kolping in
today's Church." These words of our Holy Father express precisely the
purpose of the beatification of Adolph Kolping.
Prayer for Canonization
Almighty, everlasting God
!
You gave us Blessed
Adolph Kolping as an intercessor and role model. His life found fulfilment in
his concern for the young people in religious and social difficulties. For many
he was an untiring pastor, a fatherly advisor, a patient teacher and a true
friend.
He set us an example in
his love for your Son. In his loyalty to the Church he is an exemplary role
model for us. His concern was to understand work, family and society in the
light of our faith. He considered helping one another within the community to
be the expression of the Christian love for one's neighbour.
From the Holy Scripture,
the sacraments and prayer he drew the strength to create a movement that is to
serve You and mankind.
At all times you have
called us to help establish your kingdom. We therefore beseech you: help us
work together to overcome poverty, injustice and hopelessness. Through the
intercession of Blessed Adolph Kolping, help us to defend human life and
protect marriage and family. As members of the International Kolping Society in
the community of your Church let us be the salt of the earth and the light of
the world.
Fulfill our hope of being
able to honour Adolph Kolping as a Saint throughout the whole church in all
languages and nations. Let us, through faith, hope and love, work towards
bringing your kingdom in this world, just as Adolph Kolping did.
This we ask of You,
through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Imprimatur – Coloniae,
die m. 26. Septembris 2003
Jr.Nr. 106250 I 90 - +
Rainer Woelki, vic. eplis. top
SOURCE : http://www.kolping.org/canada/intro.html
Büste
in der Stadtpfarrkirche St. Josef (Reinhausen)
Beato Adolfo Kolping Sacerdote,
fondatore
Kerpen (Colonia), 8
dicembre 1813 – Colonia, 4 dicembre 1865
Adolph Kolping da
calzolaio si fece sacerdote e da vero "padre dei lavoratori artigiani"
fondò un'opera, Kolpingwerk, diffusa in tutto il mondo con centinaia di
migliaia di membri. Nato nel 1813 a Kerpen (vicino Colonia) da famiglia di
pastori, esercitò il mestiere di ciabattino in giro per la Germania. Poi
riprese gli studi interrotti e fu ordinato prete a Colonia. Fu destinato alla
zona industriale di Wuppertal e divenne assistente della locale società dei
giovani lavoratori. Nel 1835 fondò la prima casa di assistenza e di
insegnamento professionale. Morì a Colonia nel 1865. È beato dal 1991. (Avvenire)
Etimologia: Adolfo =
nobile lupo, dal tedesco
Martirologio
Romano: A Colonia in Germania, beato Adolfo Kolping, sacerdote, che, mosso
da fervida carità per i problemi dei lavoratori delle fabbriche e per i temi
della giustizia sociale, fondò un’associazione di giovani operai e la diffuse
in molti luoghi.
Partito dalle condizioni
disagiate della sua famiglia, con i suoi sforzi, volontà e capacità, diventò un
personaggio di livello mondiale, fino a raggiungere l’onore degli altari come
Beato della Chiesa Cattolica.
Adolph Kolping, quarto
dei cinque figli di Peter Kolping e Anna Maria Zurheyden, nacque a Kerpen
(Colonia) in Germania l’8 dicembre 1813.
Il padre era un pastore e
piccolo agricoltore e nonostante il duro lavoro, a stento riusciva a mantenere
la famiglia; ma volle a tutti i costi che i figli avessero una istruzione
seppur elementare.
Dopo aver frequentato la
scuola elementare, Adolph non ancora tredicenne, fu costretto ad andare a
lavorare presso un calzolaio di Kerpen, successivamente lavorò come ragazzo di
bottega, presso altri laboratori artigiani del circondario.
Finalmente riuscì ad
entrare come operaio fisso in una calzoleria di Colonia; era un posto molto
ambito nella miseria dell’epoca, ma Adolph Kolping ricorderà soprattutto
l’ambiente dissoluto e indifferente in cui vivevano i ragazzi di bottega della
Germania di quel periodo.
Nonostante tutto, in lui
maturò fermamente la vocazione sacerdotale e dal 1837 a 24 anni, aiutato da
alcuni sacerdoti benefattori, prese a frequentare il Margellen-Gymnasium di
Colonia, dove nel 1841 conseguì la maturità classica; nello stesso 1841 si
iscrisse alla Facoltà di Teologia di Monaco di Baviera, passando poi a quella
di Bonn.
Fu ordinato sacerdote il
13 aprile 1845 a Colonia nella chiesa dei Minoriti, aveva 32 anni. Ebbe subito
l’incarico di cappellano e catechista nella parrocchia di S. Lorenzo, nella
città industriale di Elberfeld (Wuppertal) dove i cattolici erano una
minoranza, qui poté conoscere più approfonditamente il mondo del lavoro specie
artigianale.
“L’artigianato e la
classe operaia in genere, in fondo sono migliori di quanto solitamente si creda
e l’accesso al loro cuore è più facile che altrove”.
A Elberfeld, padre Adolph
Kolping conobbe l’Associazione di artigiani (Gesellenverein) fondata da Johann
Gregor Breuer (1821-1897); l’esperienza come assistente religioso in questa
comunità, cattolica, pedagogica e culturale, unitamente alla sua personale esperienza
di ex artigiano calzolaio e conoscenza delle problematiche del modo del lavoro,
gli diede l’impulso a realizzare un progetto più vasto e dinamico a favore del
modo giovanile artigiano.
Nell’autunno del 1846,
fondò il primo “Gesellenverein” (Casa di assistenza e di insegnamento
professionale) del quale nel 1847 divenne preside.
Un anno dopo, nel 1848
scrisse il suo opuscolo “Il Gesellenverein. All’attenzione di quanti hanno a
cuore l’autentico bene del popolo”; il motto dell’Associazione era “Pregare,
imparare, lavorare, con serietà, ma anche in allegria”.
Passato all’ufficio di
viceparroco del Duomo di Colonia, fondò il 6 maggio 1849 anche qui un
“Gesellenverein”, che poi diventò il centro mondiale di tutte le organizzazioni
di giovani operai, di cui divenne Presidente, come pure lo fu di tutte le
numerose associazioni da lui fondate in seguito.
Gli scopi culturali del
Kolping erano: il cristiano impegnato, l’artigiano valente, il buon padre di
famiglia e il cittadino responsabile; animato da un grande amore per gli
artigiani, esercitò con loro un’intensa attività non solo caritativa, ma anche
evangelizzatrice, interessandosi della pastorale di tutto il mondo del lavoro.
Fu anche apostolo nel
giornalismo, fondò e diresse per molti anni i settimanali “Rheinische
Volksblätter” e “Volkskalender” a sfondo popolare e abbastanza diffusi; con
l’edizione di calendari e riviste sotto il motto “Religione e lavoro sono il
terreno aureo del popolo”, non solo esercitava un’opera di educazione e di pastorale,
ma riusciva anche a garantire l’introito economico per sostenere l’opera dei
‘Gesellenverein’.
Con le sue stampe riuscì
a raggiungere un vasto pubblico, specie nelle classi sociali dalle quali
provenivano i suoi giovani apprendisti artigiani; Adolph Kolping fu molto
stimato dal popolo, dai vescovi e dallo stesso papa Pio IX, che in una udienza
gli regalò una preziosa pianeta.
L’esercizio simultaneo di
tre professioni al servizio della Chiesa e della società (vicario del Duomo,
preside generale dei Gesellenverein, giornalista ed editore), unitamente alla
sua scarsa salute fin dalla giovane età, lo estenuarono, e consumato dalle
fatiche, dopo appena venti anni di sacerdozio, si spense santamente a Colonia
il 4 dicembre 1865 a soli 52 anni.
Lasciò una comunità di
24.000 soci in 400 località; il 20 aprile 1866 il re di Prussia Guglielmo I,
autorizzò il trasferimento dei suoi resti mortali dal cimitero alla
Minoritenkirche di Colonia, la chiesa da lui prediletta in tutta la sua vita;
il sepolcro è diventato meta di pellegrinaggi provenienti da tutto il mondo.
Padre Adolfo Kolping, è
stato proclamato Beato da papa Giovanni Paolo II, il 27 ottobre 1991.
Autore: Antonio
Borrelli
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