August
9
Blessed Franz Jaegerstaetter
(1906-1943)
(Martyr)
Called to serve his country as a Nazi solider, Franz eventually refused, and
this
husband and father of three daughters (Rosalie, Marie and Aloisia) was
executed because of it.
Born in St. Radegund in Upper Austria, Franz lost his father during World
War I and was adopted after Heinrich Jaegerstaetter married Rosalia Huber.
As a young man, he loved to ride his motorcycle and was the natural leader
of a gang whose members were arrested in 1934 for brawling. For three years
he worked in the mines in another city and then returned to St. Radegund,
where he became a farmer, married Franziska and lived his faith with quiet
but intense conviction.
In 1938 he publicly opposed the German Anschluss (annexation) of Austria.
The next year he was drafted into the Austrian army, trained for seven
months and then received a deferment. In 1940 he was called up again but
allowed to return home at the request of the town’s mayor. He was in active
service between October 1940 and April 1941 but was again deferred. His
pastor, other priests and the bishop of Linz urged him not to refuse to
serve if drafted.
In February 1943 he was called up again and reported to army officials in
Enns, Austria. When he refused to take the oath of loyalty to Hitler, he was
imprisoned in Linz. Later he volunteered to serve in the medical corps but
was not assigned there.
During Holy Week he wrote to his wife: “Easter is coming and, if it should
be God’s will that we can never again in this world celebrate Easter
together in our intimate family circle, we can still look ahead in the happy
confidence that, when the eternal Easter morning dawns, no one in our family
circle shall be missing--so we can then be permitted to rejoice together
forever.” In May he was transferred to a prison in Berlin.
Challenged by his attorney that other Catholics were serving in the army,
Franz responded, “I can only act on my own conscience. I do not judge
anyone. I can only judge myself.” He continued, “I have considered my
family. I have prayed and put myself and my family in God’s hands. I know
that, if I do what I think God wants me to do, he will take care of my
family.”
On August 8, 1943, he wrote to Fransizka: “Dear wife and mother, I thank you
once more from my heart for everything that you have done for me in my
lifetime, for all the sacrifices that you have borne for me. I beg you to
forgive me if I have hurt or offended you, just as I have forgiven
everything…My heartfelt greetings for my dear children. I will surely beg
the dear God, if I am permitted to enter heaven soon, that he will set aside
a little place in heaven for all of you.”
Franz was beheaded and cremated the following day. In 1946 his ashes were
reburied in St. Radegund near a memorial inscribed with his name and the
names of almost 60 village men who died during their military service. He
was beatified in Linz on Occtober 26, 2007. His “spiritual testament” is now
in Rome’s St. Bartholomew Church as part of a shrine to 20th-century martyrs
for their faith.
Comment:
Franz Jaegerstaetter followed his conscience and paid the highest price
possible. In December 2008 his widow and three daughters were introduced to
Pope Benedict XVI in connection with the presentation of a new biography,
Christ or Hitler? The Life of Blessed Franz Jaegerstaetter. Many people
first learned about him from Gordon Zahn’s book In Solitary Witness: The
Life and Death of Franz Jaegerstaetter.
Quote:
In his homily at the beatification Mass, Cardinal José Saraiva Martins
quoted Giorgio La Pira, a 20th- century mayor of Florence, who wrote: “The
holiness of our century will have this characteristic: It will be a holiness
of laypeople. We encounter on the streets those who within 50 years may be
on the altars–along the strees, in factories, in parliament and in
university classrooms.” Cardinal Martins noted that after long internal
struggles, Franz arrived at an extraordinary life of Christian witness.
“Saints and blessed have always given an example of what it means and
signifies to be Christians, even in particular, concrete historical
moments.”