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BL. GEORG HÄFNER, MARTYR - 20 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 20th of August

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. GEORG HÄFNER, PRIEST AND MARTYR 

Blessed Georg Häfner, born 1900 in Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany, died on August 20, 1942 in the Dachau concentration camp. He was a German Catholic priest and member of the Carmelite Third Order.

His beatification took place in 2011. 

A MEMBER OF THE CARMELITE THIRD ORDER

Blessed Georg was chaplain in Kothen and revealed himself as a persistent opponent of National Socialism while he was pastor of Oberschwarzach from 1934 to 1941. That is why he was sent to Dachau concentration camp in 1941, where he died of starvation and disease. Having held on unwaveringly to his steadfast Christian conviction until the end, Blessed Georg's death at the hands of the Nazis was judged to be out of "hatred for the faith" and his has been considered a matryr's death. 

A MARTYR'S DEATH

Pope Benedict XVI said at the noontime prayer in St Peter’s in Rome [Angelus]: "Amid the tumult of Nazism, Georg Häfner was present as a faithful pastor, sacrificing his life to feed his flock, leading many people to the waters of life in the proclamation of the truth and the administration of the sacraments. 

HE FORGAVE HIS TORMENTORS

He forgave his tormentors from his heart, for as he wrote to his parents from prison: 'Let us seek to be good with everyone.' Let us entrust ourselves to his intercession, so that we too may hear the voice of Christ, the good shepherd, and so be led to life and joy in abundance."

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