“More than 600 children follow in the footsteps of Saint Clement at festival organized by school board”

that from school board organized festival, was originally planned for the 200th anniversary of the saint’s death in 2020, but had to be canceled due to corona. Now the children finally had the opportunity to get to know the patron saint of Vienna better. A specially created workbook with the story of the saint, riddles and the recipe for the Klemensweckerl accompanied the students throughout the day.

Who was Saint Clement?

Klemens Maria Hofbauer was born on December 26, 1751 to poor parents in Tasswitz near Znaim. He had 11 siblings. His father died when he was six years old. He became an altar boy and wanted to become a priest. But that was not possible for financial reasons, so he did an apprenticeship as a baker to earn the money for his studies.

In 1784 he entered the Redemptorist Order in Italy and was ordained a priest in 1785. He was then commissioned to found a monastery in Austria. However, Joseph II did not want to know anything about it and Clement was sent to Poland by his order, where he built the spiritual center of St. Benno. He was particularly committed to children, orphans and the poor. After 20 years he went to Vienna and became rector of the church in St. Ursula. He received the honorary title “Apostle of Vienna”. Klemens Maria Hofbauer died in Vienna on March 15, 1820. In 1909 he was canonized and in 1914 he was appointed the second city patron of Vienna.

In the footsteps of Saint Clement – play stations

In 18 different play stations, the pupils were able to play through, listen to and create episodes from the life of Saint Clement:

• In the Grimm’s Bakery the children got an insight into the baker’s trade, which Saint Clement also learned.
• At Maria am Gestade, where the mortal remains of Klemens Maria Hofbauer lie today, the children learned more about him at the shrine with the bones of the saint and a candle was lit for each class.
• Clement was someone who was merciful and looked out for others. Therefore, the participants designed a small heart at the station in the “quo vadis?” at Stephansplatz and all small hearts were made into a big one.

Church service in St. Stephen’s Cathedral

At the service in St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vicar General Nikolaus Krasa celebrated with the students, school chaplains, Father Dominic O’Toole (Redemptorist church rector of Maria am Gestade) and cathedral priest Toni Faber. The life story of Saint Clement was made tangible for everyone and visualized with a large treasure chest. During the sermon, Vicar General Krasa and the students calculated how many kilometers Saint Clement had traveled (mostly on foot) and wished everyone that they would experience every day that Jesus is also walking with them.

The head of the school authority, Andrea Pinz, was delighted: “Klemens Maria Hofbauer is a saint with rough edges, his personality and his life offer numerous points of contact for young people today. More than 600 children from the graduating classes of our diocesan elementary schools set out in an exciting puzzle rally to discover the stages of his life and experienced together in a service what still connects us to the patron saint of Vienna today. As the head of the school authority, I am very happy about that, because the day together makes it clear that our schools are in the middle of the diocese and that the story is lively and meaningful for the children.”