JENINGEN, PHILIPP. - German Jesuit, born at Eichstätt on 5 January 1642, died at Ellwangen (Württemberg) on 8 February 1704, in the reputation of holiness. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1663 and for several years was assigned to teaching in the Society’s colleges. Yet it was the small town of Ellwangen that witnessed, for twenty-four years, the full flowering of his activity and celebrated on 28 November 1704 the ardour of his interior life, enriched as it was by every gift of the mystical life. On a hill overlooking the town, the “Schö-nenberg,” he procured and directed the construction of a great Marian sanctuary, still regarded today as a pearl of the Baroque style.
Not content with creating a true centre of Marian devotion, J. traversed the surrounding region as a popular missionary, in whom were realized the words spoken by the Lord: “In thee I shall show how much can he who truly loves Jesus and Mary.” The epitaph of Fr J. states, among other things: “He was an indefatigable missionary in four dioceses. Dead to himself, he seemed to live only for his neighbour, unless it were made manifest that he lived for God alone.” His cause of beatification was introduced on 23 March 1945.