Hellriegel, Martin B., 1890-1981

Hellriegel, Martin Balthasar (09 November 1890–10 April 1981), clergyman, was born in Heppenheim, Germany, the son of Martin Hellriegel II, a furniture maker, and Eva Kohler. Hellriegel grew up in Heppenheim, a town in the southern part of the province of Hesse near the Rhine River, in a traditionally Catholic part of the German Empire. The Emperor Charlemagne had once worshipped at the local church of St. Peter’s where Hellriegel would be baptized a thousand years later. After finishing high school and college in his home town, Hellriegel came to the United States early in 1906 and prepared for the Catholic priesthood at St. Meinrad’s Abbey-Seminary in southern Indiana. He was ordained for the archdiocese of St. Louis in 1914. Later on, he took advanced studies in liturgical theology in Rome and his native Rhineland...