Every branch and group is orientated on the original Christian image of community: the family - exemplified in the Holy Family of Nazareth and united by a common bond of love and mutual respect. About 180.000 people in over 40 countries belong, in one way or another to these groups. In many nations and dioceses Schoenstatt has built over 100 pastoral and retreat centres in the service of the local Church, attended by over two million pilgrims.
Schoenstatt's spiritual centre is a place of the same name near Vallendar on the River Rhine, West Germany. In the Middle Ages it was the site of a monastery, called eyne schoene stat - a beautiful place. Now it has become an international place of pilgrimage and spiritual life. The heart and life's centre of today's Schoenstatt is a little chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Perhaps the difference to other Marian places of pilgrimage is the fact that Mary never appeared here. She was invited by a group of young people and their priest to make their chapel a place of her special activity.
None of the youths, who had gathered in the little cemetery chapel of the once Augustinian Monastery on 18th October, 1914, could have known that this day was the beginning of such a growth and development. On the suggestion of their chaplain, Father Joseph Kentenich, they made a personal consecration to Mary - the Covenant of Love. They asked her to make the little chapel her shrine - a place of grace and pilgrimage. In return, they offered her their apostolic efforts, prayers and sacrifices, so that this wish would become a reality. Over 70 years of Schoenstatt history have shown that our Lady took their Covenant seriously and had claimed this spot for herself. With over 30 different houses for retreats and communities, churches, places of spiritual formation and religious craft workshops Schoenstatt is one of the big religious centres in the world.
Soon those same youths were to live their Covenant in the horrific experience of the First World War. In the midst of hate and death they managed to keep in contact with each other and with their chaplain in the daily struggle to live their ideals. The little flame, once lit in the chapel at Schoenstatt, began to burn brightly in the hearts of many. In 1916, a magazine was founded to keep the contact alive. The magazine was called after the picture of grace in the Marian Shrine: MTA - Mother Thrice Admirable. This picture was a copy of the work done by the artist Luigi Crosio, originally with the title Refugium Peccatorum - Refuge of Sinners. The new name originates from a certain Jesuit priest, Father Jacob Rem, at the time of the counterreformation. It remains the same today.
In many different places in the world, a replica of the Marian Shrine with the same picture of grace has been built. They too have become centres of spiritual renewal where people, from all walks of life, have made their Covenant of Love with the Mother Thrice Admirable and have tried to live it daily. Hundreds of thousands go on pilgrimage to the original Schoenstatt or to the replicas of the Shrine. These centres are places for reflection and prayer, for spiritual formation and pastoral training. Whoever visits a Schoenstatt Centre should feel at home, inwardly transformed and receive impulses for experiencing and applying faith in daily life.
Link to the Schönstatt - Homepage.