The "Bacon Priest": One of the first things the young Norbertine priest asked of the Flemish countryfolk was bacon. So much bacon was gathered that he soon acquired the nickname of "Bacon Priest"

Father Werenfried van Straaten - the "Bacon Priest" Werenfried van Straaten was born on January 17th 1913 in Mijdrecht, near Amsterdam in Holland. At one time he had intended to become a teacher were like his father, and in 1932 he began studying classical philology at the University of Utrecht. But God had other ideas for him, and so it was that in 1934 he entered the Norbertine abbey of Tongerlo in Belgium. Following a bout of tuberculosis, his doctor decided that the young Werenfried was no longer up to the rigours of pastoral or missionary work, and his superiors wondered at first whether he should leave the abbey. But in the end it was decided that he should remain in the monastery and work as the abbot's secretary. As such he was also responsible for editing the abbey newsletter "Toren" (Tower). It was at Christmas 1947 that Werenfried wrote an article entitled "Peace on Earth?/No Room at the Inn". In it the 34-year-old appealed for help for the 14 million homeless Germans, expelled from the Eastern territories, 6 million of whom were Catholics. The response was beyond all expectations and marked the beginning of the organisation known today as "Aid to the Church in Need".

From 1948 onwards Father Werenfried worked together closely with Monsignor Kindermann, who ran an organisation for refugees and also a seminary for those expelled from the East, in the town of Königstein, near Frankfurt in Germany. It was from Königstein that he launched his programme of providing wheels for the many "rucksack priests" - Catholic priests from among the displaced refugee population who sought to minister to their scattered flocks in war-torn Germany. By 1950 he was financing the first "chapel trucks" - converted buses used as mobile churches to bring the Mass and sacraments to the scattered Catholic refugees in Germany.

By now ACN had been active in Germany and Austria for six years. The sickly young novice of 1934 had turned into a brilliant organiser, a powerful public speaker and a highly successful popular missioner. He was making as many as 90 church appeals a month and cheerfully acknowledged begging to be his true vocation. Even today he occasionally sits after Mass at the back of the church with his worn-out and by now legendary "Hat of millions", collecting money for his cause. It was in 1953 that his own small handwritten newsletter, the "Mirror" first appeared. Today this bi-monthly bulletin is published in seven languages in an edition of around 700,000 copies. In 1956, during the Hungarian Uprising, Father Werenfried travelled to Budapest and met Cardinal Mindszenty, who had just been released from prison. It was the start of a flood of aid for the Church in Hungary.

In 1959 Father Werenfried travelled through Asia, visiting the refugee areas and meeting Mother Teresa in her "House of the Dying" in Calcutta. In 1960 his first book was published, "They call me the Bacon Priest". In 1962 Father Werenfried attended the second Vatican Council in Rome as a "peritus", or expert. He met 60 bishops from the Iron Curtain countries who were directly or indirectly receiving help from ACN.

In 1965, during the Simba Uprising, Father Werenfried visited the Belgian Congo (now Zaire/Democratic Republic of Congo). A year later, together with the Belgian nun, mother Hadewych, he founded the religious community "Daughters of the Resurrection". This was in some ways a unique congregation, since it was open to young African women with no formal education.

In 1969 Fr. Werenfried published his book "Where God Weeps".

In 1964 Father Werenfried was appointed by Pope Paul VI as moderator-general of ACN. In 1981, at the age of 68, he resigned this post but continued to write his "Mirror" newsletter and remained as founder and spiritual director to the organisation, with special rights. In 1981 Father Werenfried was awarded the German Federal Service Cross. And in Holland and Austria too he was given special recognition.

With the collapse of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe the work of ACN took on a new dimension. For Father Werenfried in particular a new chapter began in his work of reconciliation, namely the promotion of better relations between the Catholic Church in the West and her Russian Orthodox sister Church. So it was that in 1992 he appealed for reconciliation of the divisions within Christianity and called upon Catholics to give help for their Orthodox sister Church. Just as he had preached after the war for love for the "enemies of yesterday", so now he was preaching reconciliation and the overcoming of the schism in the Church which has lasted between East and West since 1054.

In 1998 our founder celebrated his 85th birthday. To this day he continues to work in our Königstein headquarters and has been writing the "Mirror" newsletter for 45 years now without interruption.

1999 * Takes part in the congress of Communione e Liberazione (CL) in Rimini, Italy.

October. Audience with Pope John Paul II in Rome, to present the new governing body of Aid to the Church in Need.

2000 The founder celebrates his 87th birthday. He continues to write his letter in the "Mirror.

Solemn Mass in Rome, in May 2000, and another in s'Hertogenbosch (Netherlands) to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of his priesthood on 25th July 1940.

Father Werenfried, solemnly handing over the Cross to Father Alliende, the International Spiritual Assistant of Aid to the Church in Need. After Holy Mass, which Father Werenfried concelebrated with Father Alliende, he handed him the small Cross that had stood for his years on his writing desk, with the request to hand it on to his successor.

2001 "Kämpfer für den Frieden" ("Fighter for peace") is the title of a new book in German language of Pater Werenfried van Straaten, which contains 100 meaningful words and thoughts from the 88-year-old founder of "Aid to the Church in Need" not only about his work but also about a wide range of social and church questions. This book is obtainable at the national offices in Germany, Austria and Swiss and also at Kirche in Not in Königstein.