Fr. Christopher Rengers, O.F.M., Cap.

I was born in Pittsburgh in 1917 and when I was old enough, I was sent to the local parochial schools. I entered the Capuchin novitiate in Maryland in 1936 and made my first vows about a year later. I was ordained in Washington, D.C. in 1942 but continued my education, obtaining an M.A. in history from St. Louis University. I taught four years at St. Joseph College and Military Academy in Kansas, did a stint as a chaplain, then bounced around for the next 50 years doing parish work in Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

My favorite topics are devotion to St. Joseph and Our Lady of Guadalupe. I founded the St. Joseph Medal Apostolate and its related group for the laity, The Workers of St. Joseph. We foster devotion through a medal of St. Joseph and its literature. The "Joseph way of life" is well expressed in the Workers' "Sum-up Prayer":

In regards to Our Lady of Guadalupe, I make materials available on the subject (wrote a book on it, too), and arrange retreat-pilgrimages to her shrine in Mexico City. The combined effect of this devotion to Joseph and Mary is directed to the flowering of new devotion to Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament.

I also started a pagaent that told the story of Guadalupe as a stage production, and in 1979, I helped start the Queen of the Americas Guild, a group that also promotes information on Guadalupe.

Bibliography:

The Youngest Prophet (Ven. Jacinta Marto)
Mary of the Americas
Words from the Cross
They Played in Calvary's Drama (republished as Saints and Sinners of Calvary)
The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross
various magazine articles in Our Sunday Visitor, Soul, Priest, Pastoral Life, Homiletic and Pastoral Review and Extension.
33 Doctors of the Church