In Pace Christi

Fr. Peter Schmid (31.03. 1933 – 21.09.2006)
Peter Schmid was born in Waldhausen (Härtsfeld) on 31 March 1933, not far from Ellwangen, in the diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart. On 19 April 1944, still during the war, he entered the minor seminary in Josefstal of the Comboni Missionaries, at that time called Missionaries Sons of the of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MFSC), because the house in Ellwangen was occupied by the army. One of the teachers from his home village, a convinced national socialist, tried his best to make life difficult for him. Peter, nevertheless, stood his ground and continued on his way. In 1952 he finished high school in Ellwangen and soon afterwards he entered the novitiate in Bamberg, where he took his first vows on 2 July 1954. On 8 December 1957 he consecrated himself to God and to the mission by taking his final vows. On 27 July 1958 he was ordained priest in Bamberg cathedral.
The first years after his ordination were spent as a supervisor and teacher in our minor seminaries: 1958-1962 in Milland/Brixen, 1963-1964 in Bad Mergentheim, 1964-1967 in Ellwangen and 1967-1970 again in Brixen. He was full of initiatives with a strong health that allowed him to practise the sports he loved (soccer, mountaineering, etc.). These characteristics made him popular with the old and the young, the latter taking him as an example to imitate.
He always paid great attention to the liturgy and used to prepare very well the celebrations, together with the pupils.
After this period in the minor seminaries, in 1971 Fr. Peter got the chance to go to the missions of South Africa. He was first sent to the parish of Mamelodi East, the township (namely the place allocated exclusively to black people) and suburb of Pretoria; then to the mission of Waterval, a rural area of Witbank diocese and located deep in one of the homelands reserved for black people; finally to Glen Cowie, a mission located in the same homeland as Waterval. In the various places and parishes he was sent, he always worked in the pastoral field.
When the Superior General of the DSP visited him on his first trip as Superior General to Africa, he noted in his diary: “Fr. Peter has a lot of work to do, but he seems happy and well. Three African Sisters help him in the pastoral work. On Sundays also some European Sisters help him. At the moment he is busy in planning to build the new church. At the beginning he had some difficulties in getting accustomed to the new environment and language. Mamelodi East is a huge parish. I was deeply impressed by the church choir.”
Fr. Peter spent in South Africa over fifteen years. He was always deeply impressed by the enthusiasm of the African people in the church services, as he really did enjoy it and felt well with it.
In Waterval mission he was confronted with the problem of refugees fleeing from the war in Mozambique. In their flight they had to cross the famous Krüger National Park, a natural reserve and full of wild animals. A number of the refugees paid the crossing with their life. For Fr. Peter, though very fond of nature and who had visited the reserve as a tourist a number of times, the park began to take on a different meaning.
In 1983, while on holiday in Germany, he celebrated his silver jubilee of ordination to the priesthood in his home village in Waldhausen. Mgr. Anton Reiterer, his bishop in South Africa, was able to attend the celebration as he also happened to be on holidays at his home in South Tirol. In 1998 Fr. Peter celebrated also his fortieth anniversary of ordination in his home village.
In 1986 Fr. Peter had to leave South Africa and return to Germany for health reasons. Here he helped in pastoral work for two years in Brixen and a bit longer in Ellwangen, but his health deteriorated to a degree that he had to move to Ellwangen in the Centre for the sick and elderly confreres. The last year and a half of his life he was in full time care in the Waldkrankenhaus in Dalkingen, near Ellwangen. (P. George Klose)
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 234 suppl. In Memoriam, aprile 2007, pp.20-23.