Lorenz Werthmann (1 October 1858 – 10 April 1921) was a German

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest and social worker. He was the founder and first president of the German

Caritas Germany The (), also sometimes referred to as and internationally known as Caritas Germany, is a German Catholic not-for-profit organisation and social service provider. It is the largest welfare organisation and largest private employer in Germany. It ...

Life

Werthmann was born in

Geisenheim Geisenheim is a town in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt (region), Darmstadt in Hessen, Germany, and is known as ''Weinstadt'' (“Wine Town”), ''Schulstadt'' (“School Town”), ''Domstadt'' (“Cathedral Town� ...

and attended high school in

Hadamar Hadamar () is a small town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany. Hadamar is known for its Clinic for Forensics, Forensic Psychiatry/Centre for Social Psychiatry, lying at the edge of town, in whose outlying buildings is also found th ...

. He studied at the

German College The ''Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum'', or simply ''Collegium Germanicum'', is a German-speaking seminary for Catholic priests in Rome, founded in 1552. Since 1580 its full name has been ''Pontificium Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum de Urb' ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. In 1883, Lorenz Werthmann had received the priestly ordination in Rome. After a short period in Frankfurt, Lorenz Werthmann became the secretary of Bishop Peter Joseph Blum in

Limburg an der Lahn Limburg an der Lahn (, ; officially abbreviated ''Limburg a. d. Lahn'') is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn. The t ...

. He took the same position with his successor, Christian Roos. After the Archbishop of

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

was chosen, in 1886, he followed him and started Caritas from there since 1895. He received the title of "Pontifical confidential finance officer" and the award "Erzbischhöflicher Ecclesiastic Council".see. Board of Caritas Association for Catholic Germany: "Caritas", Journal of the works of charity in Catholic Germany, issued by the Board of Caritas Association for Catholic Germany, 16th and 17th year from October 1910 - September 1912., Freiburg Breisgau, 1911 book title page On November 9, 1897 Werthmann founded in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

the Charitasverband for Catholic Germany (DCV), which since 1921 is known as the German Caritas association (DCV). His charity Caritas went on to be one of the most successful Catholic charities.

References

1858 births 1921 deaths 19th-century German Roman Catholic priests German social workers 19th-century German people People from Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis 20th-century German Roman Catholic priests {{Germany-reli-bio-stub