Volume > Issue > Note List > An Unknown Hero Has Been Beatified

An Unknown Hero Has Been Beatified

When the Nazis brought on World War II, Americans knew the Nazis’ war was unjust and immoral. But Catholic bishops in Germany and Austria failed to condemn the Nazis’ unjust and immoral war. As far as we know, the Holy See also failed to explicitly condemn the Nazis’ unjust and immoral war. They were afraid that if they did, the Nazis would increase their persecution of Christians. (See Charles J. Gangi’s article in this issue for the details of Pope Pius XII’s wartime Christmas addresses.)

Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian, refused to serve in Hitler’s army. He knew that Hitler’s war was unjust and immoral. He was beheaded by the guillotine in Berlin’s Brandenburg Prison on August 9, 1943. He was a devout Catholic, not a pacifist or a political man. An unknown hero, he stood completely alone.

Pope Benedict declared Franz Jagerstatter a martyr on June 1, 2007. Jagerstatter’s beatification ceremony took place on October 26, 2007.

Für Gott und Vaterland — “for God and Fatherland” — the Nazis attacked foreign countries.

Enjoyed reading this?

READ MORE! REGISTER TODAY

SUBSCRIBE

You May Also Enjoy

Looking Eastward

As the world grows ever more secular and anti-Christian, we may hope that true believers in the East and West will grow ever closer.

The News You May Have Missed: May 2020

Van Gone... St. Corona... Pot Prize... Stripped & Exiled... I Can’t Believe It’s Not Bug Butter... The Books Brits Buy... Leap for Joy... and more

The New Right & the Pro-life Movement: How Solid is the Marriage?

March for Life organizer Nellie Gray had little patience with those who would solicit pro-life support simply to boost the bomb, bolster corporate profits, or get fluoride out of the water.