Sebastian Kneipp

Kneipp was born in 1821 in Stephansried in the Kingdom of Bavaria. His father was a weaver, and Kneipp trained as a weaver until he was 23 when he began training for the priesthood. Matthias Merkle, a priest in Grönenbach began instructing him, but Kneipp fell ill with tuberculosis in 1847. Kneipp was so ill that he was visited by a physician around 100 times in each of his last two years of study. While Kneipp was ill, he began reading many books and found his illness described in a book about water cures. In 1850, Kneipp met a student in the Georgianum seminary in Munich that was also ill and shared water cures with him. Both Kneipp and his friend at the Georgianum recovered from their illnesses and with his renewed health Kneipp was able to complete his studies. He was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1852.

Background

In the 19th century, there was a popular revival in the application of hydrotherapy, instigated around 1829 by Vincent Priessnitz, a peasant farmer in Gräfenberg, then part of the Austrian Empire. This revival was continued by Kneipp, "an able and enthusiastic follower" of Priessnitz, "whose work he took up where Priessnitz left it", after he came across a treatise on the cold water cure. At Wörishofen, while serving as the confessor to the monastery, he began offering treatments of hydrotherapy, botanical treatments, exercise, and diet to the people who lived in the village. Some of his suggested treatments included "ice cold baths and walking barefoot in the snow" and other "harsh" methodologies. In 1893, M. E. Bottey described Kneipp's water cures as "dangerous in most cases". Wörishofen became known as a place with a reputation for spiritual healing. In addition to "peasants", Kneipp's clients also included Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his father, Archduke Karl Ludwig as well as Pope Leo XIII. Others took Kneipp's processes back to their home countries to found alternative therapy spas and colleges.