Adolph Kolping
German catholic priest (1813-1865)

Adolph Kolping (8 December 1813 – 4 December 1865) was a German Catholic priest and the founder of the Kolping Association. He led the movement for providing and promoting social support for workers in industrialized cities while also working to promote the dignities of workers in accordance with the social magisterium of the faith. He was called Gesellenvater (the Journeymen's Father).
The beatification for the priest commenced on 21 March 1934 and he was later titled as Venerable in 1989. His beatification was celebrated under Pope John Paul II on 27 October 1991 in Saint Peter's Square; his liturgical feast is not affixed to the date of his death as is the norm but rather on 6 December.
Life
Adolph Kolping was born on 8 December 1813 in Kerpen as the fourth of five children to the poor shepherd Peter Kolping (d. 12 April 1845) and Anna Maria Zurheyden (d. 4 April 1833). He often lived in the shadow of frail health during his childhood.
He proved to be an able student while in school from 1820 to 1826 but his poverty prevented him from furthering his education despite his commitment to pursue additional studies.
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This entry incorporates text from “Adolph Kolping” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.