Fr Kentenich’s opinion of the War Memorial

“Fr Eise, Max Brunner, Albert Langner, Fr Wilwers and others have become the representatives of the way the sodalists honoured Mary, but not of the Founding Document of 18.10.1914. The secret of the Founding Document first broke through into Joseph Engling’s soul. It did so through his contributions to the capital of grace of the Mother Thrice Admirable so that the chapel could become a shrine.

We then asked Fr Kentenich, “How did the title ‘capital of grace’ come into existence? Did you have the Founding Document in mind when you wrote about the ‘capital of grace’ in a letter to Fischer?”

Fr Kentenich replied, “No! The devotion of Grignion de Montfort introduced us to the capital of grace. At the time Grignion’s devotion had captured all hearts. It encouraged us to collect our merits and offer them to the Blessed Mother for others. So this devotion was the more likely inspiration for the idea of the capital of grace.”

Our next question was, “How did the concept ‘capital of grace’ come about? How did you hit upon it?”

His answer, “I no longer remember. It was only mentioned in passing in the letter to Fischer. My only guess is this connection to Grignion’s devotion to Mary.”

Another question I asked Fr Kentenich was, “In July 1915, as the boys prepared for their holidays, how could Joseph Engling give out the motto: Daily schedule during the holidays as a contribution to the capital of grace of the Mother Thrice Admirable, to prevail upon the Blessed Mother to take possession of the chapel and make it a place of grace?”

His answer, “I can’t remember a definite event, or that something like that was mentioned during a talk. I can also not remember that I used the idea of the capital of grace as an inspiration during a talk. The only thing that could have happened is that during a conversation with Joseph Engling the idea was mentioned in passing and in connection with Grignion’s devotion to Mary. It then took root in Joseph Engling’s soul and found expression in the practice you mentioned.”

Joseph Engling developed a system out of it, as it were: The spiritual daily schedule as contributions to the capital of grace, which we place in the shrine.

So the spiritual current of making contributions to the capital of grace came about in this way. It was the breakthrough of the Founding Document, although he did not know the name or the talk given on 18 October 1914. These were only discovered later, Joseph Engling did not know about them …“