Kneipp, Father Sebastian (1821-1897)

Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine by Ken R. Wells

Born in Stephansreid, Bavaria, Germany, of poor parents, Sebastian Kneipp's childhood was filled with labor, much of it learning weaving from his father. Even as a child, Kneipp wanted to become a priest. With the help of a priest who befriended him, Kneipp entered high school where he studied theology for five years. During this time, he contracted consumption (pulmonary tuberculosis), usually a fatal disease at that time. While ill, he read an eighteenth-century book on hydrotherapy by Dr. Hahn. This caused him to bathe two or three times a week in the icy Danube River to stimulate his immune system. His tuberculosis went into remission, his health improved, and in 1850, he entered a seminary in Munich. He continued his hydrotherapy and convinced other theological students to practice it. Kneipp was ordained a priest in 1852. During the next few years, he was called to the bedsides of many patients to perform the last rites. Instead he successfully treated a number of the patients with hydrotherapy.

He perfected his own system of hydrotherapy and his successful treatment of the poor attracted much attention. People came from throughout Germany to be healed by Kneipp's hydrotherapy. His success fostered resentment from physicians and at one point, he was charged in German courts with quackery, where he was subsequently acquitted. In 1886, he published My Water Cure, which was translated into several languages and became popular throughout Europe. He continued to refine his treatment from one of severity to milder versions. It consisted of bathing in and drinking cold water, going to bed and rising early, long barefoot walks in wet grass, and simple meals consisting of little meat and lots of whole grain cereals. He continued his hydrotherapy practice at Wörishofen Monastery in the foothills of the Alps until his death. Kneipp's hydrotherapy is still practiced throughout the world, especially in Germany and the United States.