Bodelschwingh, Friedrich von

BODELSCHWIRGH, bō´del-shving, FRIEDRICH VON: German Lutheran; b. near Tecklenburg (20 m. n.n.e. of Münster), Westphalia, Mar. 6, 1831, son of Ernst von Bodelschwingh-Velmede, a distinguished Prussian statesman. After gaining practical experience of mining and agriculture, he studied theology (from 1854) in Basel, Erlangen, and Berlin, and in 1858 became pastor of the German congregation in Paris, at Dellwig in Westphalia 1864. During the wars of 1866 and 1870–1871 he served as army chaplain. Since 1872 he has devoted himself to the work of the Innere Mission at Bielefeld, and the following institutions have been founded by his exertions: the Bethel house for epileptics with 1,800 inmates; the Sarepta deaconesses' house with 980 sisters located in 326 stations, of which eleven are in foreign countries; the Nazareth house for training male nurses with 350 deacons in 120 stations, six not in Europe and six more outside Germany; the "workingmen's colony" Wilhelmsdorf (a practical attempt to deal with the tramp problem), the first of its kind in Germany, having at present five branches and 400 inmates; a "workingmen's home" with 164 houses and 400 dwellings; a missionary seminary for candidates in theology.

Bibliography: M. Siebold, Kurze Geschichte und Beschreibung der Anstalten Bethel . . . bei Bielefeld, Bethel publishing house, 1896, and the annual reports.