ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN NOVEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 5th of November
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. BERNHARD LICHTENBERG, PRIEST AND MARTYR
Blessed Bernhard Lichtenberg was born on December 3, 1875 in Ohlau, Prussian Silesia. He studied theology in Innsbruck and Breslau and was ordained in 1899. Having served as a military chaplain during World War I, he was appointed as canon of the Cathedral chapter of St Hedwig. Blessed Bernhard's encouraging Catholics to view a screening of the film version of Erich Maria Remarque's anti-war book "All Quiet on the Western Front", resulted in unfavourable reports in state newspapers and also in his house being searched in 1933.
HIS HOUSE WAS SEARCHED
Named provost of the cathedral in 1938, Lichtenberg was put in charge of the Relief Office of the Berlin episcopate, which assisted many Catholics of Jewish descent in emigrating from the Third Reich. Until his arrest in October 1941, Blessed Bernhard would pray publicly for the persecuted Jews at the daily Vespers service. Bishop Konrad von Preysing later entrusted him with the task of helping the Jewish community of the city.
HE PRAYED PUBLICLY FOR JEWISH CITIZENS
In 1941, Blessed Bernhard protested against the involuntary euthanasia programme. The euthanasia in the health institutions was subsequently stopped as a result of the church protests against euthanasia headed by the bishops Clemens August Graf von Galen and Theophil Wurm.
BL. BERNHARD WAS ARRESTED
Blessed Bernhard was arrested on October 23, 1941 and sentenced to two years in prison for violation of the Pulpit Law and the Treachery Act of 1934. He had suggested to accompany Jews to the East in order to provide comfort there. Because he was considered incorrigible, he was picked up in 1943 to be taken to the Dachau concentration camp. He fell ill and died of pneumonia in hospital in Hof, Bavaria on November 5, 1943.
(Information from Wikipedia -https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernhard_Lichtenberg)
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