St. Conrad
of Parzham
At a monastery door in Altötting, Brother Conrad gave a lifetime to receiving others and returning quietly to prayer.
The Capuchins remember forty-one years of patient service at the monastery door and prayer in the small cell beneath the stairs.
German Capuchin Province, Bruder Konrad, reviewed September 26, 2026 Well-attested
The Life and Witness of Conrad of Parzham.
Johann Evangelist Birndorfer was born on December 22, 1818, into a farming family at Parzham in Bavaria. He worked the family land before entering the Capuchin community at Altötting in 1849, aged thirty-one. At the beginning of his novitiate in 1851 he received the name Conrad; he made his permanent profession the following year.
The monastery stood beside a pilgrimage town already shaped by devotion to Our Lady. Conrad served at its door for about forty-one years. The porter received the person who arrived: a pilgrim, a poor neighbor, someone seeking help or simply a place to be heard. Between interruptions he withdrew to pray in a small cell beneath the stairs. The ordinary threshold became the visible shape of his vocation.
Conrad died in Altötting on April 21, 1894, during the evening Angelus according to the Capuchin account. His remains were moved into the monastery church in 1912. Pope Pius XI beatified him in 1930 and canonized him in 1934. The church once dedicated to St. Anne received Conrad’s title in 1953.
Pilgrims still come to the glass shrine above his original grave. The Gnadenkapelle remains the town’s Marian center; Conrad’s church is its second great devotional place. Visiting both makes his service legible: he welcomed those who had come to pray before Our Lady.
His sanctity was practiced at a door that opened, again and again, to another person.
A life, in years and approximate ages.
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December 22, 1818BirthBorn at ParzhamJohann Evangelist Birndorfer is born into a Bavarian farming family.
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1849Age 30–31Enters the Altötting CapuchinsHe leaves the family farm for the monastery of St. Anne. Capuchin sources describe him as thirty-one.
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1851Age 32–33Receives the name ConradHis novitiate begins; he receives his religious name.
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1852Age 33–34Permanent professionHe binds himself to the Capuchin community.
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1850s–1894Adult lifeThe monastery doorFor about forty-one years he serves as porter and prays in the small cell beneath the stairs.
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April 21, 1894Age 75Dies at AltöttingThe Capuchins remember his death during the evening Angelus.
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1912After deathRemains moved into the churchHis remains are transferred from the monastery crypt into the church.
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June 15, 1930After deathBeatifiedPope Pius XI beatifies Brother Conrad.
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May 20, 1934After deathCanonizedPope Pius XI canonizes Conrad.
Dates are approximate where the surviving record is traditional or incomplete.
2 places where this witness remains visible.
Gnadenkapelle
Bring your intentions to Our Lady at the town’s Marian center.
Go to the door and the tomb.
Conrad’s service belongs to the living Marian pilgrimage of Altötting, but his shrine is in the separate monastery church.
Remember the people he received here for about forty-one years.
Pray before the glass shrine above his original grave.
Continue to the Gnadenkapelle and bring your intentions to Our Lady.
The tomb shrine at Altötting
The Capuchins describe a glass shrine above Conrad’s original grave in the former St. Anne monastery church, now bearing his name.
The saint is publicly venerated at a named tomb.
Church of St. Conrad of Parzham
Pilgrims pray at Conrad’s glass shrine above the original grave.
- Relics of Saint Conrad in the glass shrine
Confirm current church access and liturgy with the Capuchins.
Kept on April 21.
Altötting celebrates Saint Conrad on April 21.
Pray at his tomb and check the live program for the local feast.
Photo credits
- Church of St. Conrad of Parzham. Photo: Stefan Karl, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Gnadenkapelle. Photo: Karlunun, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC0.