In Pace Christi

Fr. Alois Schadt never worked as a missionary among African people but became outstanding in spiritually trai­ning communities and young missionaries. In fact, almost 40 years he spent on this commitment vital for a mission institute. Nevertheless he reached, as we shall see, also Africa under exceptional circumstances of which he made use in a truly pastora manner.

Born in the village of Erlenbach, not far from the industrial centre of Heilbronn. This lovely area along the river Nackar, where since the times of the Roman Empire good wine grows for a cheerful Frankonian folk has formed his character and behaviour, notwithstanding a personal blend of serious striving for spiritual life and community commitment.

Hence no wonder that Alois at the age of 14 was an aspirant in Josefstal, which had been founded two years earlier as the first Comboni house on German soil, and coherently entered, four years later, the noviciate of the Sons of the Sacred Heart, by then in Milland. Life was not easy there, but for this type of youth just the right thing. He strove ahead, until he professed his final vows on Christmas Day 1933 and, half a year later, was ordained priest in Munich.

A difficult period

This was unfortunately the period when faith commitment became diffi­cult for church people and Catholic missionaries. Also young Fr. Schadt got challenged and involved. In several houses in turn he gave his priestly service during the following years: in Mergentheirn, Bamberg, Josefstal and Mellatz.

It was specially in Bamberg where he had been entrusted the sensitive task of spiritual direction for over twenty young members in formation. He was just 26 himself, but mature and trust-worthy with regard to the job. Meanwhile World War II broke out and Fr. Schadt, together with many other priests, had to serve as a helper of the military Red Cross. This required not only a continual medical commitment by day and night, but also an eminently pastoral one which he performed as a priest ever present for innumerable and hardly describable needs of soldiers in moments of danger and anxiety, peril and death. During several years he did service within the famous 29th tank division, engaged in the most critical battle-fields in Italy. A comrade of Schadt during the final days of the war described how the young priest and medical officer did not spare his own life in order to save that of his wounded companions. When all the superior weaponry of the Allied overwhelmed the German lines and soldiers were lying around un­der the hail of grenades crying desperately for help, "Sani" Schadt did not hesitate to rush out to them. Others tried to keep him back, both by words and physically, from the raging drum fire. Even when they told him that an effort of saving the wounded by then was just madness and suicide, fr. Schadt jumped out of the cover, grabbed and carried the injured and brought them, one by one, into a safe place for giving treat­ment and spiritual encouragement.

A missionary service

Just a few weeks before the war ended, Father was captured by the British who brought him to Egypt. He was put into the enormous desert camp 380 not far from the Suez Canal. This place became his mission in Africa. There he found 15,000 German war prisoners who had been without a priest for a year. Among physical misery and mental frustration Schadt went around and across the various sections of the camp, not only to cheer them up with his own manly humour but also to pin them down to a serious reflection on their present situation and to the challenge of building a new future. Though caught by sweat and manifold stress strain, Schadt got never tired of this missiona­ry service.

In one section of the camp, in cage 8, a number of students who were on their way to priesthood got permission to live together, under the direction of Fr. Schadt. Where they lived in community was just a big hole in the sand, covered by a low tent, a place of hunger and heat. But he took up the task of training that group of youth, to lead them through this period of trial, as a friend and spiritual leader. His own zest for questions of theology and spirituality was of great help during this qualified commitment. But it was foremost his personal example of dedication and sacrifice which opened the way to priesthood to several of his companions and the way to a new Christian life to hundreds and thousands.

By and by Schadt extended his activity to other prison camps scattered over Egypt, convinced as he was that he had to respond to this "kairos" of a mission on African soil. And though he would have rather soon got free to leave the camp and go back to Europe he opted for staying and kept on working among the prisoners until the last group of them was set free by mid-1948. These and other facts of Fr. Schadt's biography have recently been praised publicly in the press by eye-witnesses of those past times. Besides, it was during those years in Egypt that Fr. Schadt got in touch with some Italian "Verona Fathers”, working in Cairo by then, and found companionship and support with them.

A new life

It must have been strange and difficult to him in 1948 to adjust himself to a new life in his home country and to the challenge which our religious communities were facing in those years. After a couple of months used for getting hold of the new situation, Fr. Schadt found himself appointed superior and bursar of Mellatz. This was just the job to please him least but was needed most. So he stuck to it, not without suffering, for over five years, hoping yet for better times but always unconditionally serving the confreres.

Better times came around indeed when he was allowed to hand over the house keys, the money safe and the administration files to persons apparently more competent. From the mid-50s to mid-80s Fr. Schadt was in charge of spi­ritual direction in various German speaking communities, not least in the scholasticate for a period. When Fr. General Lechner had to complain that only a few confreres made themselves available as spiritual directors Fr. Schadt always gave his response as a volunteer knowing by experience that there is no point for anybody to prepare for or carry on any pastoral and missionary task without a good spiritual foundation.

From this stems also his keen and permanent interest in ongoing formation which he promoted in community and took up personally in a rather systematic manner. He was basically open, though pointedly critical, towards the ideologies and theologies of the day and keen to keep up a relevant discussion and further learning. Yet his favourite theme was the great topic of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Along many years he studied it, prayed over it, shared it in personal talks and in conferences with the community. If there has been in the DSP a tireless messenger of the Heart of Christ, it is Fr. Schadt. This devotion, so vital to our Institute, opened to him also the new path toward the re-unification of the two Comboni branches, of which he made himself a herald among his older confreres.

But to all Fr. Schadt will remain un-forgotten as a friend with a heart profoundly religious and pastoral.             P. Josef Uhl

Da Mccj Bulletin n. 151, ottobre 1986, pp. 45-47

P. Schadt Alois (06.03.1909 - 19.09.1985)

Am 23. September 1985 ist im Friedhof von Milland der Herz-Jesu Missionar P. Alois Schadt begraben worden. Er war 76 Jahre alt und ist 51 Jahre Priester gewesen. Eine zahlreiche Trauergemeinde hat ihm die letzte Ehre erwiesen. Aus seiner Heimatgemeinde Erlenbach bei Heilbronn war ein großer Omnibus gekommen.

P. Alois Schadt wurde in Erlenbach nahe der Industriestadt Heilbronn als Sohn einer Bauernfamilie geboren. Er hatte noch vier Brüder. Seine Gymnasialstudien machte er in Ellwangen als Student der Comboni-Missionare. 1927 kam er nach Milland ins Noviziat. Am 21. Juni 1929 legte er die ersten zeitlichen Gelübde ab und am Weihnachtsfest 1933 die ewigen. Die Philosophie- und Theologiestudien besuchte er am Priesterseminar in Brixen. Am 16. Juni 1934 wurde er in München durch den Franziskanermissionsbischof Berthold Büh1 zum Priester geweiht. Es folgten sechs Jahre Einsatz als Spiritual in Häusern der Kongregation im Raum Ellwangen. Dort war P. Schadt auch in der Seelsorge tätig.

Von 1940 bis 1943 diente P. Alois als Sanitäter des Roten Kreuzes bei der Wehrmacht. Einige Zeit gehörte er zur berühmten 29. Panzerdivision, die oft in sehr schwere Kämpfe verwickelt war. Oft riskierte er sein Leben, wenn er an vorderste Front den Kameraden zu Hilfe eilte. Gegen Kriegsende wurde er in Italien von den englischen Truppen gefangen genommen. Es folgten drei Jahre Gefangenschaft in Ägypten. Im Gefangenenlager befanden sich 15.000 deutsche gefangene Soldaten. P. Schadt war der einzige Priester im Camp und beide Hände hatten voll zu tun. Die gefangenen Priesterkandidaten erhielten die Erlaubnis, mit P. Schadt eine Art gemeinschaftliches Leben zu führen. Sein Beispiel war für viele von großer Hilfe. In Ägypten gab es noch weitere Gefangenlager. P. Schadt konnte auch diese aufsuchen und den Gefangenen seine menschliche und geistliche Hilfe anbieten. In Kairo knüpfte er auch Kontakte mit den italienischen Comboni-Missionaren. Das war die afrikanische Erfahrung von P. Schadt, sicher keine einfache, aber eine sehr fruchtbare für ihn selbst und für die vielen Gefangenen.

Nach so vielen Jahren Abwesenheit vom geordneten Ordensleben musste sich P. Schadt ab 1948 wieder an das Gemeinschaftsleben gewöhnen. Er wurde zum Rektor und Verwalter der Gemeinschaft von Mellatz ernannt. Gerade diese zwei Aufgaben lagen ihm überhaupt nicht. Er war glücklich, als er wieder zu seinen gewohnten Arbeiten zurückkehren durfte, nämlich als Spiritual den Mitbrüdern zu dienen. Er versah diesen Dienst in Ellwangen, Unterpremstätten/Graz, Bamberg und Milland fast dreißig Jahre lang. P. Schadt tat viel für seine persönliche Weiterbildung und ermutigte auch die Mitbrüder dazu. Er war offen für Neuerungen, jedoch recht kritisch den Ideologien und kurzlebigen theologischen Theorien gegenüber. Sein großes und besonderes Thema war die Herz-Jesu Verehrung, in die er sich vertiefte, sich ständig mit ihr beschäftigte, sich in persönlichen Gesprächen mit den Mitbrüdern darüber austauschte und sie zum Thema von vielen Besinnungstagen machte. Er war ein unermüdlicher Botschafter der Herz-Jesu Verehrung in der DSP. Gerade die Herz-Jesu Verehrung öffnete ihm den Weg zur Wiedervereinigung, für die er besonders unter den älteren Mitbrüdern warb. Als Priester war P. Schadt sehr eifrig und von lebendigem Glauben erfüllt. Manche verunsicherte zwar sein strenges Wesen, doch wer ihn kannte, wusste ihn als Priester und Mensch zu schätzen.

1984 hat er noch mit Freude und Dank in seiner Heimatgemeinde Erlenbach das goldene Priesterjubiläum gefeiert. Dann aber begann sein Leidensweg. Die letzten Monate litt er an schnell fortschreitender Arteriosklerose und verbrachte die letzten Wochen bestens betreut bei den Schwestern der hl. Elisabeth in Brixen. Dort ist er auch am 19. September 1985 selig im Herrn verschieden. R.I.P.