Fr. Richard Henkes, S.A.C., A Picture of His Life A Picture of His Life | Page 30

Ruppach. This is a village in the Westerwald, which today is called
Ruppach-Goldhausen. Around the year 1900 it was inhabited by 320
Catholics. The teacher of the village school taught 44 children. At that
time Ruppach did not yet have a parish church; the pastor and parish
church were in Meudt, which is just 5 kilometers away. In 1906, Wil-
helm Grandpré was the parish priest. He came from a noble family of
Limburg and was the nephew of the great Pallottine benefactor Peter
Paul Cahensly, who also donated the stained-glass window in the new
parish church of Meudt, which was inaugurated in 1911. Grandpré
looked for talented boys in his congregation and promoted them by
teaching them Latin; around 1912 he arranged the transfer of Josef
Friedrich and Richard Henkes from Ruppach to the Pallottine school
in Vallendar. We do not know whether it was Grandpré the priest or
Richard Henkes on his own account who achieved the connection
with the Pallottines. Richard had known about the community since
1901. A priest from Limburg regularly said Sunday Mass in the chap-
el in Goldhausen. Now the Goldhauseners and the Ruppers did not
have to take the road to Meudt anymore.
Richard Henkes was born on May 26, 1900 in Ruppach. The peo-
ple called him “Krämersch (Grocer) Richard,” because Peter and Anna
Katharina Henkes had a grocers shop alongside their small farm—
which was common in Westerwald. “Krämersch (Grocer) Richard”
sometimes delivered things when his mother asked. As one of 13
children, Richard had to help in the shop and on the farm so that
the family could support itself. Four of his siblings died as toddlers,
and thus Richard grew up with four brothers and four sisters. Help
from the older children was particularly important when Mr. Henkes
worked away from home. The most famous construction site on which
the stone mason worked was the Cologne Cathedral. The center of
the Henkes family was the mother, who was described as serious and
pious. When her children left the house, she blessed them. When
Richard left after his holidays during his time as a pupil, a student, or
a priest, she went with him around the house, gave good advice and
blessed him. It is said that Richard once asked her if she knew where
his brothers and sisters were now staying, and she replied, confident
in her God: “You stupid boy, the Lord God knows!”
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