A Life Dedicated to the Children of Bethlehem

On April 15, Children’s Relief Bethlehem remembered Father Ernst Schnydrig, who died on this date 30 years before. Father Schnydrig, a native of Switzerland’s Valais region, was the founder of Bethlehem’s Caritas Baby Hospital.

Father Schnydrig dedicated his life to the children of Bethlehem “so that here, at the birthplace of Our Lord, no child shall go in want of medical care.“ Father Schnydrig’s words may be read in the founding document for the hospital’s New Building, dedicated in 1978 – three days after his unexpected death. “We are continuing his lifework,” says Anna Beck, General Manager of Children’s Relief Bethlehem. A renovation and expansion will enable the Caritas Baby Hospital to treat up to 50,000 children annually. Demand is growing constantly, and at present there is not enough room.

Father Ernst Schnydrig was born in Grächen, in the Swiss canton of Valais. He became a journalist, author and radio announcer, and also published a series of books on the Holy Land. In 1952, he was appointed head of advertising and publicity for Caritas Germany. In the same year, together with a Palestinian doctor and a Swiss nurse, he founded the Caritas Baby Hospital. In Europe, he built up Children’s Relief Bethlehem as an organization to manage and sustain the hospital over the long term.

Thirty years ago, Father Schnydrig’s New Building represented a courageous leap forward for the hospital. The current renovation and extension, comprising an out-patient clinic and a facility for mothers’ training, “will be a new milestone in providing assistance for Bethlehem’s mothers and children,” says Anna Beck.