Bl. Peter Friedhofen

Peter Friedhofen was born in 1819 at Weitersburg near Koblenz, Germany. His father died when he was one and his mother when he was nine, leaving the children in poverty. At thirteen he joined his elder brother to learn chimney-sweeping.

When his brother died, Peter supported the widow and her eleven children. Troubled by the indifference of local young people to their faith, he gathered them into groups and revived the parish youth associations.

In 1850 he founded the Brothers of Mercy of Mary Help of Christians to care for the poor and sick, and he bore mockery and harassment with patience. He died in Koblenz in 1860, aged forty-one. John Paul II beatified him in 1985.

Peter Friedhofen was beatified in 1985.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.