KOLPING, ADOLF. - Priest, organizer of the first Catholic workers' associations in Germany, known as the "Gesellenvater," born at Kerpen (Cologne) on December 8, 1813, died at Cologne on December 4, 1865. Driven by poverty to the shoemaker's trade, he came to know at first hand the spiritual and temporal needs of young workers, to whose service he was to dedicate his entire life.
At the age of 24 he decided to enter the ecclesiastical career; ordained in 1845, he was sent as an assistant priest to Elberfeld, where a "Füglingsverein" had recently been founded, soon to become the Kath. Gesellenverein, with the aim of helping young workers to become tomorrow's men—skilled craftsmen, sincere Catholics, and irreproachable family men. Kolping took charge of it, was elected its president in 1847, and infused it with his zeal, refining its program. He had understood that to elevate the working class and transform it into the architect of a new social order, it was necessary not only to instill religious principles in its members but also to provide them with the means to perfect themselves ever more in their craft, so that they might assert themselves and take on leadership roles. To better achieve this goal, the "unions" had to multiply throughout the German working world. He resolved, therefore, to begin in Cologne, a major industrial center. In 1849 he was appointed assistant priest at the cathedral there, and immediately a "union" was established, which soon acquired its own meeting place and opened a hostel to lodge traveling workers. Energetic and indomitable, a gifted speaker and popular writer, he spread his idea through pamphlets and undertook many journeys throughout Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, speaking everywhere. Success was not lacking, for at his death the "Gesellenvereine" numbered about 400, and they continued to multiply, winning sympathy even in various countries of America.
He wrote: *Der Gesellenverein und seine Aufgabe* (1851); *Für ein Gesellenhospitalium* (1852); and, to promote healthy popular reading, a substantial series of advice, exhortations, and stories, distributed as supplements in various newspapers and in his annual *Kolpingskalender*.