Inauguration of the International Schoenstatt Center in Rome

A great wish of Father Josef Kentenich—founder of the highly diversified Schönstatt Movement, born one hundred years ago in Germany—was that the Movement be present in the heart of the Church, in Rome. For this reason, in 1965, the leaders promised the Founder that an International Center would be built. It took over 40 years to fulfill this promise, on Belmonte, a small hill near the Eternal City. Today, after the Eucharistic celebration presided over by Msgr. Ignazio Sanna in this shrine, the Center was inaugurated.

The multifaceted Movement, formed by families, young and old, federations, secular institutes, diocesan priests... has a rich history of apostolate and is present in over forty countries around the world. Many of its centers have the peculiarity of being replicates of the original sanctuary, located in Vallendar, Germany. The Belmonte Shrine, inaugurated in 2004, was commissioned by Father Kentenich, who died on 8 December 1965, the closing day of Vatican II. The founder himself set down the first symbolic stone and gave the future sanctuary its name: Matri Ecclesiae.

Today, the Movement, which works to form Christian people and communities able to freely adhere to God’s plan in the world where they live, has its “international” headquarters at the heart of the universal Church. This a is gift that Father Kentenich wanted to give—as the two possible translations of the Latin name Matri Ecclesiae express—"to the Mother Church” and “to the Mother of the Church.”