Altenberger light
The Altenberger Licht is a light relay of peace that has started annually since 1950 on May 1st in Altenberg Cathedral . The occasion was the need for reconciliation with the enemies of the Second World War .
Origin and development
In Altenberg, where the Cistercian Abbey of Altenberg was dissolved in 1802 and whose monastery church was the Altenberg Cathedral, today's youth education center " Haus Altenberg " of the Archdiocese of Cologne was built .
Carl Mosterts , General Praeses of the Catholic Youth , discovered Altenberg in 1922 for his work. Under his successor Ludwig Wolker , Altenberg developed into a center for Catholic youth in Germany.
From 1934 onwards, the National Socialists made the work of the church youth associations more difficult, up to and including their dissolution. The Altenberg house was also closed several times and forcibly closed in 1942. After the end of the war, the youth associations and church youth pastoral care were rebuilt in a different structure. After these dark years, thought was given to how those who were enemies of the war could become friends again, and a sign of peace was considered. Klaus Franken, at the time the Cologne diocesan youth group leader, and chaplain Josef Wisdorf developed the idea of a light relay across Germany. Initially there were widespread reservations, which after a successful start on May 1, 1950 subsided. In the following years the campaign developed from a German light relay to a European campaign in which young people from France , Belgium , Lithuania , Ireland and Italy take part.
The light relay begins in Altenberg Cathedral at the Madonna von Altenberg , a sculpture of the Virgin Mary made in 1530, which has been venerated since the 1930s as the "Queen of the League", Catholic youth work in Germany.
In the mid-1960s, the BDKJ general assembly decided to discontinue the light relay because the action was no longer up to date. Only in 1980 was there a new beginning through the initiative of Rector Winfried Pilz .
Special events
The relay repeatedly integrates major events of the Catholic Church as a starting or destination. In 1987 Pope John Paul II received the light in the Cologne stadium on the occasion of Edith Stein's beatification and sent it on at the end of the mass. In 1990 a group of runners brought it to Berlin for the Catholic Day. In 1993 the light was lit in Lithuania as part of a “festival of hope” in which several thousand young Lithuanians took part, and a small delegation brought it to Altenberg. In 1994 young people brought the light from Altenberg to Dresden for the Catholic Day , where it was passed on to around 40,000 people on the Elbe meadows during the “Youth Night”. In 1995 young people carried the light of reconciliation across the Polish border to Częstochowa and Auschwitz . 50 years after the end of the war, the aim of the relay was the death row of St. Maximilian Kolbe in the Auschwitz concentration camp . In 1997 the light reached the French city of Besançon in a continuous relay . There it was received by the Archbishop on Pentecost and burned in the cathedral until the international youth meeting in August, in the run-up to World Youth Day . From here the light moved on via Chartres to Paris for World Youth Day . On the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral , the light was carried on foot from congregation to congregation to Cologne Cathedral in 1998.
In 1999 the light reached the refugee camps in Albania , the German soldiers in Kosovo and the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in Belgrade . In 2000 the light was brought to Rome via Pisa for the World Youth Day and was received there by the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Lehmann . At the same time it was carried to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius for the national youth day . In 2002 the light flew to the congregation of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem , the Sea of Galilee and the West Bank . In 2005, after it had started in Bethlehem in December 2004, the light arrived in Altenberg Cathedral on May 1st and from there also reached the Vigil des XX. World Youth Day with Pope Benedict XVI. on the Marienfeld . In 2006 the light came from Peter's tomb in Rome, where it was lit during Holy Week as part of the diocesan youth pilgrimage. In 2007, the light was brought to the National Youth Day in Klaipėda , Lithuania, which was held in June. It was passed on to the Lithuanian communities.
In 2013 the motto of the campaign was “Peace will take place!” On May 1, 2013, 2,500 people came to the celebratory broadcast mass with the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Joachim Meisner .
Because of the corona crisis was Vigil in the Cathedral on April 30, 2020 live and live streaming in Domradio transferred in the night of 1 May there was a live stream from the Epiphany Chapel House Altenberg, where the release celebration on May 1 took place and was transferred.
Individual evidence
- ↑ altenbergerlicht.de
- ↑ domradio.de: Information on religious services in the Archdiocese of Cologne. What do you have to consider? , April 30, 2020 [1]