POPPE, EDWARD. - Priest, propagator of the Eucharistic Crusade, b. at Temache on the Scheldt on 18 Dec. 1890, d. at Moerzeke (Vlaanderen) on 10 June 1924.
A priest in 1916, he was first assistant pastor at Ghent in the parish of St. Colette, a communist quarter, where he exerted himself to the utmost as defender and friend of the poor; he organized eucharistic associations to educate children through the Eucharist and a work of catechists to look after the children of indifferent families and prepare them for first Communion. Transferred for health reasons to Moerzeke, there he was the soul and pioneer of the Eucharistic Crusade, launched by the Norbertines of Averbode, with which he cooperated through articles and pamphlets. He set out his eucharistic pedagogical principles in: La méthode eucharistique, L'ami des petits, Manuel de la catéchiste (Italian trans., Milan 1947); Direction spirituelle des enfants (Italian trans., ibid. 1939). A counselor to all, he loved especially to occupy himself with forming holy priests; the flame kindled at a congress of priests held at Louvain (27 Apr. 1919) gave rise to new meetings, of which the last, in 1923, marked his testament. In 1922 he was spiritual director of the CIBI (=Centre d'Instruction des Brancardiers et Infirmiers-), which grouped together in Belgium all young ecclesiastics. His spiritual direction and his pedagogical conferences and the little evening sermons were published separately: Entretiens sacerdotaux (Paris 1935). A good collection of addresses, retreats, etc. is contained in the Italian translation by M. A. Mandrini, in the volume Vita sacerdotale, 4th ed., Milan 1949.
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