The international Confederation

Despite many obstacles Sebastian Kneipp (1821-1897) managed to fulfill his ardent wish to become a priest. When he fell ill with TBC he cured himself by bathing in the River Danube, and from this experience he later developed a holistic health concept which he used to cure patients, making him very popular. But we also owe him credit for developing a concept of comprehensive prevention. He acquired a vast knowledge of diagnosis and natural remedies.

In his later years he traveled to many countries on lecturing tours and built up a network of international contacts. Physicians from around the world visited him in Bad Wörishofen to learn from him. Whenever possible, Kneipp invested his income in his charitable foundations, mainly for the benefit of sick children.

After his death the physician’s journal dedicated a sympathetic obituary to him – which is rather astonishing, because for years the professional physicians had tried to send their successful rival to prison for quackery. Kneipp left many writings for posterity. The most well-known are “Thus Shalt Thou Live”, “My Testament” and “My Water Cure”

Sebastian Kneipp’s Biography  

1821 17.05.1821: Sebastian Kneipp is born in Stephansried
18.05.1821: Baptism in the monastery church in Ottobeuren  
1841 17.05.: The Kneipp family home burns down, Kneipp loses his home and the 70 guilders he had arduously saved
1842 Vicar Dr. Matthias Merkle teaches Kneipp Latin; Kneipp becomes farm laborer in the service of the mayor of Grönenbach  
1844 Kneipp starts at the Gymnasium (German Grammar School) in Dillingen on the Danube   1848 26.08.1848: Kneipp begins studying theology in Dillingen  
1849 Kneipp studies at the university in Munich and Dillingen Kneipp falls ill with tuberculosis and discovers the booklet “Unterricht von der Kraft und Wirkung des frischen Wassers in die Leiber der Menschen" (“Teachings on the power and effect of fresh water on the human body“) by Johann Siegmund Hahn, town physician of Schweidnitz in Austrian Silesia. Kneipp cures himself by dip-baths in the icy Danube near Dillingen  
1850-1852 Kneipp studies in Munich where he is granted a scholarship at the Georgianum; here Kneipp cures two fellow-students with water-rinses  
1852 06.08.: First celebration of mass in the monastery church in Ottobeuren 04.10.: Kneipp becomes chaplain in Biberach near Augsburg  
1853 20.01.: Kneipp becomes chaplain and parish vicar in Boos near Memmingen
1854 Kneipp prescribes a hot application for a farm girl who had fallen ill with cholera; he is charged with quackery and pays a fine of 2 guilders Kneipp becomes third town chaplain at St. George’s in Augsburg  
1855 02.05.1855: Kneipp is appointed “Father Confessor” to the Dominican nuns in Wörishofen – with the mission of redeveloping the convent agriculture and economy, which had been destroyed by secularization  
1866 31.03.: Kneipp is charged with quackery by Dr. Schmidt of Türckheim
14.03.1866: Kneipp writes an apologia to the Ordinariate of the Bishop of Augsburg  
1875-1877 Kneipp publishes agricultural texts about farming, livestock, rabbit-breeding and bee-keeping  
1881 07.04.: Kneipp becomes parish priest in Wörishofen  
1884 Dr. Bernhuber becomes Kneipp’s first medical assistant; the Archabbot Maurus Wolter from the Benedictine abbey in Beuron near Sigmaringen requests Kneipp’s help and encourages him to write down his knowledge  
1886 01.10.1886: “My Water Cure” is published and translated into 14 languages within a few years  
1888 Opening of the first bath-house 07.06.: Dr. Kleinschrod joins Kneipp  
1889 “Thus Shalt Thou Live” is published and becomes a bestseller  
1890 27.08.: Founding stone for the spa centre “Priesterkurhaus“ (later the Sebastianeum), the first of Kneipp’s foundations 30.09.: Inauguration of the walking course; here Kneipp holds his first lecture  
1891 21.03.: Inauguration of the Sebastianeum 07.07.: “Ratschläge zur Kinderpflege in gesunden und kranken Tagen“ (“How to care for children in sick and healthy days“) and “Ratgeber für Gesunde und Kranke” (“Advisory for the healthy and the sick”) are published. Kneipp visits his friend the pharmacist Leonhard Oberhäußer in Würzburg. This is the beginning of the Kneipp Works .  
1892 18.04.: Kneipp holds his first course of lectures 29.04.: Kneipp petitions the Bavarian Government to implement Hydrotherapy as an obligatory subject at the state Universities of Bavaria 22.08.: Dr. Med. Alfred Baumgarten becomes Kneipp’s medical assistant 01.10.: The Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God (Fatebenefratelli), together with Prior Bonifaz Reile, visit Wörishofen for the first time  
1893 20.01.: Inauguration of the Children’s Home (later named Kneippsche Kinderheilstätte – Kneipp Children’s Convalescence Home) 17.10.: Kneipp is appointed Monsignor and Privy Chamberlain by Pope Leo XIII 25.11.: Kneipp consigns the Sebastianeum and the Children’s Home to the Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God  
1894 01.02.: Foundation of the International Association of Kneipp Doctors 15.02.-07.03.: Kneipp travels to Rome. He has audiences with the Pope who asks Kneipp to administer water treatments 10.06.: Inauguration of extension buildings of the Sebastianeum  
1895 Topping out ceremony of the Kneippianum  
1896 09.11.: Kneipp’s last lecturing tour  
1897 05.03.1897: Kneipp falls ill 01.04.: Kneipp’s last lecture in public 17.06.: Kneipp dies at 4.30 a.m. 21.06.: Funeral