Father Werenfried was born in 1913 in the town of Mijdrecht, near Amsterdam. His name was Philip van Straaten, and by rights he should have become a teacher, like his father. Certainly his parents had always wanted a son of theirs to become a priest, but both their other sons had already joined the Augustinian Order. So the third son would follow in his father`s footsteps. For his own part he would rather have studied painting, but he went along with his parents' wishes and studied classical philology. Even as a student he was very interested in social issues, and he actually founded his own newspaper - and even a political party, though this did not last long however... It was a complete surprise when in 1934 he entered the Norbertine abbey of Tongerlo in Belgium - the more so since he had just fallen deeply in love... But while in the monastery his poor health almost sealed his fate and he came close to having to leave, since the doctors had declared that his constitution would not permit him to exercise the normal activities of a priest! But God had other plans for him, and so he remained for the time being as the abbot`s secretary, until the hour came for him to transform the name "Werenfried";, that he had taken as a monk - and which means a "warrior for peace" - into a programme for life.

It was at Christmas 1947, when this young Dutch Norbertine priest, then aged 34, wrote an article entitled "Peace on Earth?/No Room at the Inn". In this article he called on the Belgian people to help the 14 million homeless Germans, expelled from the Eastern territories, 6 million of whom were Catholics. Nobody could have imagined that this would be the birth of a charity that today encompasses some 140 countries around the globe. The times then were bleak indeed; Europe lay in ruins and so many Belgians were still mourning loved ones killed by the Germans; the wounds of war were still raw and open... But so deeply was Father Werenfried moved by the misery of the German people, especially those expelled from their homes in the East, that he could not remain silent, but had to speak out loud and clear. And the incredible happened - his appeal triggered an enormous wave of generosity and sacrifice among the Belgians, and then the Dutch.

One of the first things that Father Werenfried requested of the Flemish countryfolk was bacon, so that he could at least ease the immense physical hunger of the refugees. Not only this, but he had quickly realised that these peasant folk were more likely to have food in the house than money, and were also willing to part with some of this. Indeed, so much bacon was collected that Father Werenfried soon earned his now familiar nickname of "Bacon Priest".

From 1948 onwards Father Werenfried worked together closely with Monsignor Kindermann, who ran an organisation for refugees and also a seminary for those expelled from the East, in the town of Königstein, near Frankfurt in Germany. It was from Königstein that he launched his programme of providing wheels for the many "rucksack priests" - Catholic priests from among the displaced refugee population who sought to minister to their scattered flocks in war-torn Germany. By 1950 he was financing the first "chapel trucks" - converted buses used as mobile churches to bring the Mass and sacraments to the scattered Catholic refugees in Germany.

The sickly young novice of 1934 had turned into a brilliant organiser, a powerful public speaker and a highly successful popular missioner. He was making as many as 90 church appeals a month and cheerfully acknowledged begging to be his true vocation. Even in his old age occasionally he sat after Mass at the back of the church with his worn-out and by now legendary ";Hat of millions", collecting money for his cause.

It was in 1953 that his own small handwritten newsletter, the "Mirror" first appeared. Today this bi-monthly bulletin is published in seven languages in an edition of around 700,000 copies.

In 1956, during the Hungarian Uprising, Father Werenfried travelled to Budapest and met Cardinal Mindszenty, who had just been released from prison. It was the start of a flood of aid for the Church in Hungary.

In 1959 Father Werenfried travelled through Asia, visiting the refugee areas and meeting Mother Teresa in her "House of the Dying" in Calcutta.

In 1960 his first book was published, "They call me the Bacon Priest".

In 1962 Father Werenfried attended the second Vatican Council in Rome as a "peritus", or expert. He met 60 bishops from the Iron Curtain countries who were directly or indirectly receiving help from ACN.

In 1965, during the Simba Uprising, Father Werenfried visited the Belgian Congo (now Zaire/Democratic Republic of Congo). A year later, together with the Belgian nun, mother Hadewych, he founded the religious community "Daughters of the Resurrection". This was in some ways a unique congregation, since it was open to young African women with no formal education.

In 1969 Fr. Werenfried published his book "Where God Weeps".

With the collapse of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe the work of ACN took on a new dimension. In many countries of the former communist bloc Father Werenfried is now received with a joyful welcome. He redouble the commitment of ACN for this region, since it became easier to help the Church, totally destitute as she is, to rise from the ruins and rebuild her pastoral and evangelising mission in this former communist empire.

On the 30th March 1991 the spiritual head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Cardinal Lubachivsky, returned home from his exile in Rome. Fr. Werenfried went with him and, in front of hundreds of thousands of the faithful, promised to help him rebuild church life there. During all of his life a particular concern of Father Werenfried's was the support for the Ukrainian Catholic Church. This Church has been in union with Rome since 1596, however it celebrates the Liturgy according to the Eastern rite. In 1946 it was effectively abolished by the communists, who had called a fake synod, and thereby officially ceased to exist. Right up to the collapse of the Communist regime the faithful had to suffer severe reprisals and punishments, and Father Werenfried helped the Ukrainian Catholics to keep their church alive underground. Father Werenfried called his journey to Lviv "one of the happiest days" in his life.

For Father Werenfried in particular a new chapter began in his work of reconciliation, namely the promotion of better relations between the Catholic Church in the West and her Russian Orthodox sister Church. So it was that in 1992 he appealed for reconciliation of the divisions within Christianity and called upon Catholics to give help for their Orthodox sister Church. Just as he had preached after the war for love for the "enemies of yesterday", so now he was preaching reconciliation and the overcoming of the schism in the Church which has lasted between East and West since 1054. He met with Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow and agreed to specific aid measures for the Russian Orthodox Church. This will later include the "chapel boats" - based on the model of the earlier "chapel trucks" - to bring the sacraments to Orthodox Christians on the vast churchless reaches of the Volga and Don rivers.

1993 Father Werenfried speaks at the World Youth Day in Denver, USA.

1997 A pilgrimage of over 5,000 friends, benefactors and staff of Aid to the Church in Need to Fatima marked the 50th anniversary of ACN and the 80th anniversary of the apparitions in Fatima. Father Werenfried renewed the consecration of his Charity to Our Lady.

October. Audience with Pope John Paul II in Rome, to present the new governing body of Aid to the Church in Need. 2000 Father Werenfried celebrates his Diamond Jubilee of the priesthood. In May, a Holy Year pilgrimage is organised with friends and benefactors to Rome. Pope John Paul II addresses a message of greeting to Father Werenfried and thanks him, on behalf of the Church, for his life`s work

2000 Father Werenfried, solemnly handing over the Cross to Father Alliende, the International Spiritual Assistant of Aid to the Church in Need. After Holy Mass, which Father Werenfried concelebrated with Father Alliende, he handed him the small Cross that had stood for his years on his writing desk, with the request to hand it on to his successor.

2001 Father Werenfried meets Pope John Paul 11 at the end of June, during the latter`s pastoral visit to Ukraine. In Lviv the Pope blesses the site of the new Greek-Catholic seminary and the Theological Centre.

2002. The first ever meeting of the spiritual assistants and leaders of ACN with Fr. Werenfried takes place from 22 - 28 April in Königstein and Rome. Senior representatives and staff of the Vatican express their gratitude and recognition for the work of Aid to the Church in Need. The climax of this meeting, on 27 April, is the concelebration of Holy Mass with the Pope in his own private chapel. The Holy Father gives Father Werenfried his own Paschal Candle.

2003 On 17 January Father Werenfried celebrates his 90th birthday, together with over five hundred colleagues, friends and benefactors, with a solemn Mass in Limburg Cathedral followed by a reception in the town hall. Bishop Franz Kamphaus of Limburg gives the principal address and reminds us that "religion is still something exciting today". And he cites the life and work of Father Werenfried as the best proof of this.