100th anniversary of death of Sebastian Kneipp - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1997 - 100 Pfennig

Sebastian Kneipp was born on 17 May 1821 in Stephansried (near Ottobeuren), the son of a poor weaver family. With great difficulty he became a high school student and studied theology in Dillingen and Munich. During his high school years, he fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis, which he brought with dipping baths in the winter cold Danube and later with well-cold watering with a watering can for healing. He invented the Kneipp cold-casting, which differs from earlier described overburdens. In 1855 Kneipp was appointed confessor of the Dominican nunnery in Wörishofen. There he was also able to deal intensively with medicinal plants and develop his own naturopathic healing system, in which various cold and warm applications with mildly effective medicinal herbs and exercise, diet and lifestyle are combined. At first he treated very reservedly and occasionally help seekers, mostly spiritual colleagues. However, after the publication of his book "Meine Wasserkur", which was actually intended to make his personal use of help seekers superfluous, the number of those seeking welfare in Wörishofen multiplied. Sebastian Kneipp died on 17 June 1897 after a serious illness in Wörishofen. Today, Kneipp therapy and Kneipp's lifestyle are fully recognized by scientific medicine. Kneipp is regarded as one of the most important representatives in the development and distribution of naturopathy. (Text: Sebastian Kneipp Foundation, Würzburg)