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When Peter Friedhofen died at the age of forty one in Koblenz on 21 December 1860, he became the object of highest devotion for the people. The conviction became more and more widespread that Peter Friedhofen had led the blessed life of a saint. The question of beatification became an urgent one.
Preliminary work toward this goal was taken up in 1916. In 1922 the first biography appeared, »Brother Peter Friedhofen. Founder of the Congregation of the Brothers of Mercy in Trier. A Biography by Prof. Nikolaus Scheid SJ. In 1925 Msgr. Dr. Arthur Wnen SAC became postulator for the causa Friedhofen.« |
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Bishop Franz Rudolf Bornewasser of Trier inaugurated the process of beatification for Peter Friedhofen on 26 March 1926. After completion of the diocesan process under the direction of vice postulator Dr. Heinrich von Meurers in Trier, the documents were forwarded to the proper congregation in Rome. In 1926 the second biography of Peter Friedhofen appeared, »Brother Peter Friedhofen, Servant of God. Founder of the Congregation of the Brothers of Mercy in Trier. An Instrument of God’s Providence« by P. Johannes Kröll OMI. The remains of Peter Friedhofen were transferred from Koblenz to Trier in 1928, where they were interred in the Chapel of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the garden of the Hospital of the Brothers of Mercy in Trier. |
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In 1939 P. Feridinand Baumann SJ took over the »Causa Friedhofen« as postulator. In 1951 the third biography appeared: »One Man’s Way to God: The Life of Peter Friedhofen« by Hans Hümmeler. This book showed the call of Peter Friedhofen: to show the world what can grow from an unbroken faith and what truly constitutes the greatness of a human life, loving oblation, true humility, and virtuous obedience.
The process in Rome proceeded slowly until a breakthrough came in 1975 when P. Dr. Antonio Weber SAC became the new postulator. The historic section of the Congregation for Beatification and Canonization ordered that a positio, a representation of his life and virtues, be prepared. |
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After examination of this positio the Theological Commission and the Commission of Cardinals decided in the year 1983 that Peter Friedhofen was a man in whose life Christian virtues excelled! The Pope himself expressed his agreement. In a decree on 24 December 1983, he declared Peter Friedhofen a man of heroic virtues worthy of devotion. »It has been determined that the servant of God Peter Friedhofen possessed to a heroic degree and lived out as example the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love toward God and neighbor, and further, the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and perseverance and all that pertains to them, and thus the process of beatification may proceed.« At the same time it was stressed that his beatification was especially appropriate for our time, especially for all those engaged in the care of the sick. |
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The process for beatification was given new certainty through a providential act. This occurred during a nine-day prayer, a novena, to Peter Friedhofen to the twenty-year-old farmer and wine grower Johann Hain from Niederemmel on the Mosel in 1931. Johann Hain’s arm was severely injured in a saw accident and he was brought to the Brother’s Hospital in Trier. In the course of treatment, a bone marrow infection ensued. Hain took a turn for the worse. According to the medical science of that time, there was no hope: the patient would die. In this critical situation the relatives of the patient and the Brothers undertook a novena for the prayer of Peter Friedhofen. On the morning of the seventh day the doctors found a remarkable change: over night the fatally ill patient was healthy. |
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After the Medical Commission came to a positive decision, the Theological Commission and the Commission of Cardinals were next. After careful examination of all results and circumstances, they pronounced the cure of Johann Hain a miracle. Johann Hain had experienced a spontaneous, complete and lasting cure from »general sepsis with septic shock, resulting from a deep laceration on the right upper arm with damage to the bone marrow, soft tissue infection, osteomyelitis, and infection of the marrow.« (Decree of Miraculous Cure). Pope John Paul II signed this attestation in December 1984. The way was freed for the beatification of Peter Friedhofen. |
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On 23 June 1985 in St. Peter’s in Rome took place the first beatification in several centuries of a son of the diocese of Trier. Beatification, which was declared for Peter Friedhofen and for the Italian Pater Benedict Menni, also a founder of an order and a model of Christian charity, took place during a papal mass.
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His Holiness Pope John Paul II declared the beatification with the following words:
»We, fulfilling the desire of our brothers Angel Suquia Giocoechea, Archbishop of Madrid, and Hermann Josef Spital, Bishop of Trier, and not least many other brothers of the Episcopate and many of the faithful, declare solemnly according to the decision of the Congregation for Beatification and Canonization and by the power of our apostolic authority, that henceforth the worthy servants of God Benedict Menni and Peter Friedhofen shall be called blessed and their feasts may be celebrated annually on their dates of birth, Benedict Menni on 24 April, Peter Friedhofen on 25 February. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.«
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