Man beheaded by Nazis beatified
2007-10-26 18:48
Vienna - An Austrian farmer beheaded by
the Nazis for refusing to serve in Hitler's army was beatified
by the Roman Catholic Church on Friday in a ceremony attended by
his 94-year-old widow.
About 5 000 people joined 27 bishops and cardinals to
honour Franz Jaegerstaetter, a devout Catholic who died in 1943,
aged 37.
"He gave his life in mighty-hearted self-denial and with an
upright conscience, in loyalty to the gospel and for the dignity
of mankind," Pope Benedict wrote in a Latin message read out
during the service in Linz.
His widow Franziska, visibly moved, carried a gold cylinder
containing a relic (piece of bone) of her husband to the altar
of the packed cathedral in the central Austrian city.
After the 1938 Nazi takeover of Austria, Jaegerstaetter, who
lived in the Linz region with his wife and children, was drafted
twice and completed his basic military training.
Indispensable
Both times the mayor of his hometown declared him
indispensable at home. After returning for the second time,
Jaegerstaetter vowed to reject further call-up orders.
When he was drafted again in February 1943, he belatedly
reported to his designated unit and declared on arrival that he
could not use a weapon on duty due to his beliefs.
He offered to serve as a medic. Jaegerstaetter was arrested
as a conscientious objector and executed a month later in a
military prison near Berlin.
His beatification followed that of Sister Maria Restituta,
an Austrian nun and surgery nurse beheaded by the Nazis after
being caught dictating the text of a satirical anti-Nazi song to
a hospital secretary for wider distribution.
According to archives documenting anti-Nazi resistance in
Austria, German military courts condemned 50 000 people to
death, 35 000 of whom were members of its own forces.