Caritas Internationalis | German Origins at the Turn of the 20th Century
German Origins at the Turn of the 20th Century
Catholic aid and relief activities remained uncoordinated in large part and locally focused into the late 19th century in Germany. Movement toward a more centralized organization began among socially active priests and politicians toward the dawn of the 20th century. By the early 1890s, that movement had found its leader, in the form of Lorenz Werthmann, a young priest in the town of Freiburg. Werthmann gathered a number of like-minded church members, forming the Charitas Comité in 1895. By 1897, Charitas, as the new organization became known, launched its official operations.
Charitas initially focused on providing charity and other relief and social aid services to Germany's poor, primarily targeting the nation's Christian population. From the outset, Charitas exhibited a strong degree of social advocacy, tackling societal problems such as welfare services, alcoholism, protection of the mentally and...
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