BL. ALOIS ANDRITZKI, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 3 FEBRUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY

Saints celebrated on the 3rd of February

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

BL. ALOIS ANDRITZKI, PRIEST AND MARTYR

As a boy, Blessed Alois Andritzki, of Radibor, Germany, and his siblings were taken on monthly pilgrimages by their devout father Johann. Three of Johann’s sons became priests, including Alois, who was ordained on July 30, 1939, about a month before the beginning of World War II.

Zealous for the cause of Christ, Father Andritzki longed to suffer martyrdom for his faith.

FREEDOM TO PRACTISE THE FAITH

Shortly after presiding over a Nativity play in Dresden for Christmas of 1940, he was interrogated by the Nazi secret police, the Gestapo. On January 21, 1941, Father Andritzki was arrested. It was for his defence of human rights and the people’s freedom to practise their faith that he incurred the wrath of the Nazis.

A PAINTING OF THE NATIVITY FOR A MAKESHIFT CHAPEL

Ultimately Father Andritzki was sent to the German concentration camp of Dachau. A fellow prisoner remembered him for his total serenity in the midst of the camp’s horrors. 

A talented musician and artist, Father Andritzki painted a depiction of the Nativity for a makeshift chapel in the prison barracks. After he fell ill with typhoid, the Nazis put him to death with a lethal injection on February 3, 1943, at the age of twenty-eight.

“I love you, Lord, my strength, my rock, my fortress, my saviour.” (Ps 17:2-3)