His Father’s name is Heinrich Georg Bendel. He was born on 18th February 1881 and died on 28th March 1950 at the age of 69 years.
His mother’s name is Katharina. She was born on 19th March 1883. She died at the age of 55 years that is on the 10th June 1938.

Bernhard was influenced by community life, which he had first lived at home, later in the minor and major seminaries. He was accustomed to living together with other young people under a certain regime and structure. Relationships with people were something important to him. He maintained relations with his professors and with the other students in the college. He liked to study theology but had a special interest for exegesis of the Holy Scriptures. He maintained a life- long joy in studying and in theology. At St. Georgen College, he was moved by the religious life that could be felt there. However, he did not feel called to a specific Jesuit Spirituality. Nevertheless, he respected and spoke about his professors with high esteem. After his theological studies he was ordained to: minor orders on May 1933; on July 25th, 1933 he becomes a sub deacon and then on July 30th, 1933 a deacon at the Oratory of St. Georgen. He was ordained a priest on December 8th, 1933 in the Cathedral of Limburg. That year was Germany’s fateful year, when Adolf Hitler seized power in the country.