During his return as pope to his childhood area, Benedict XVI visited the ancient Marian shrine (center) and then had lunch with the Capuchins at St. Mary Magdalen Friary (to the left of the shrine). At evening prayer, he spoke of St. Conrad of Parzham, our provincial patron, in an address to seminarians gathered in St. Anne's Basilica (to the right):

“Here in Altoetting, we naturally think in a special way of good Brother Conrad. He renounced a great inheritance because he wanted to follow Jesus Christ unreservedly and to be completely with him. As the Lord recommended in the parable, he chose to take the lowest place, that of a humble lay brother and porter. In his porter’s lodge he was able to achieve exactly what St. Mark tells us about the Apostles: to stay with him, to be sent to others.

“From his cell he could always look at the tabernacle and thus always stay with Christ. From this contemplation he learned the boundless goodness with which he treated the people who would knock at his door at all hours -- sometimes mischievously, in order to provoke him, at other times loudly and impatiently.

“To all of them, by his sheer goodness and humanity, and without grand words, he gave a message more valuable than words alone. Let us pray to Brother St. Conrad; let us ask him to help us to keep our gaze fixed on the Lord, in order to bring God’s love to the men and women of our time. Amen!”

[for more on Brother Conrad, http://www.midamcaps.org/conrad.html]