Ancillae Christi Regis
The Ancillae Christi Regis Community (ACR) ("Servants of Christ the King") is a female institute of consecrated life of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria . According to canon law (Cann. 710–730) it is a recognized secular institute and was founded in 1926 by the Viennese canon Leopold Engelhart (1892–1950).
Emergence
Leopold Engelhart was born in Vienna and was placed in an orphanage at an early age. His older sister promoted the attendance at the boys' seminar in Hollabrunn , she also made it possible to study theology . In 1917 he was ordained a priest . He occupied his first pastor in Gloggnitz. In 1919 he was appointed cathedral curate and cathedral preacher to the cathedral parish of St. Stephan . Theodor Cardinal Innitzer commissioned him in 1932 to build up the Catholic Action . This task came to an end with the annexation of Austria in 1939. He took over the parish of Neu-Ottakring and stayed there until his death.
The initial spark for founding a women's order came from Engelhart already after the First World War . He wanted to create an organization that would help pastoral care and support the work of the local priests . "He was looking for women who are in the middle of the world and who are bound to Jesus Christ in a celibate way of life ."
history
On December 16, 1926, Pastor Engelhart found a group of six like-minded women with whom he discussed his ideas. Under his guidance, the women began to set up and participate in pastoral care. The main festival of the small community was held in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. (1922–1939) introduced the festival of Christ the King . This gave rise to the name: "Ancillae Christi Regis" ( de : Servants of Christ the King). In 1927 Engelhart and a few other priests called the "pastoral care aid" into being. At the same time, the women who had joined the community were trained in professional schools, and in 1928 the first “ pastoral assistant ” was able to take office. In the meantime, women from Silesia and Tyrol had made connections to Vienna, and they carried the idea to their dioceses . Between 1933 and 1945 the community could only work in small, inconspicuous groups. After the Second World War , after the expulsion from Poland, new educational institutions emerged in Germany and Austria . Members gathered in Tyrol, Vorarlberg , South Tyrol , Salzburg and Vienna. Several sisters in the Ancillae Christi Regis have served as missionaries in Korea , Tanzania, and Hungary .