Fr. Richard Henkes, S.A.C., A Picture of His Life A Picture of His Life | Page 28

derived from their Latin lessons. As a pupil, Henkes chose the ideal:
“aut nihil - aut Caesar” (everything or nothing). In spite of homesick-
ness and all the questions that were still to come, Henkes’ personality
also included a powerful will.
We do not know whether he was present at the celebration on
October 18, 1914, when Fr. Kentenich gave the speech which today is
considered the founding document of the Schönstatt Movement, but
he belonged to the movement’s first generation. He was excited, he
could inspire, and he could also be a reliable and effective leader for
his group. He took responsibility of his classmates, instructing them
to take their voluntary commitments - such as their spiritual agenda,
prayers, and later correspondence seriously.
These contacts were a wonderful instrument of the “Marian con-
gregation” of the student house in Vallendar in order to preserve
internal stability and freedom in the years of the First World War.
Gradually, pupils were conscripted for military service, and Richard
was so enthusiastic about the movement in Germany that he wanted
to volunteer. The Pallottine students, who had now become soldiers,
remained in contact with each other and with their spiritual director
using regular letters. That was good. But Fr. Henkes, who could be
strict towards lazy writers (unthoughtful), would learn how difficult it
was to keep the Schoentstatt ideas in practice in the outside world.
In March 1918 he had to go to an inspection in Koblenz. On
June 21, 1918 he moved to the barracks, first in Griesheim, then in
Darmstadt. There was soon nothing left from the jubilatory euphoria
of 1914. His brother Karl was seriously wounded and permanently
scarred. His best friend, Hans Wormer, was killed and buried at the
chapel after the war.
The letters and postcards of Henkes’ time as soldier, which he wrote
to the network of Pallottine students, nevertheless showed Henkes to
be rather brisk as he was a little proud to wear “the Emperor’s coat.”
On the other hand, the writings also showed a shaken young man. For
the first time in his life, Henkes was confronted with a language and
a way of thinking that he had not known in his sheltered life. Some
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