BL. JAKOB GAPP, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 13 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 13th 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.

BLESSED JAKOB GAPP, PRIEST AND MARTYR 

On August 13, “one of the Blesseds remembered by the Church is Blessed Jakob Gapp. He was born in 1897 at Wattens in the Austrian Tyrol. He received a basic education in his native town, then entered the Franciscan High School in Hall. Blessed Jakob became a soldier and served on the Italian front until he was wounded in 1916. In 1918 he became a prisoner of war in Riva del Garda and was released in 1919.

HE ENTERED THE MARIST ORDER

Back in Austria, blessed Jakob entered the Marist Order in 1921 and then entered the International Marianist Seminary in Fribourg, Switzerland, where he was ordained a priest in 1930.

Blessed Jakob returned to Austria and collected food and coal to help the poor, who were suffering in the terrible economic situation. Nazism was on the rise and Blessed Jakob saw the incompatibility of Nazism and Christianity, and began preaching the truth.

HE COLLECTED FOOD AND COAL FOR THE POOR

When German troops arrived in Austria, Blessed Jakob’s superiors sent him away as they believed his anti-Nazi preaching would bring on them the wrath of the Reich.

He became an assistant priest in Breitenwang-Reutte, where the Gestapo ordered him not to teach religion.

HE WAS TRICKED BY A LIE

He encouraged the people to read Catholic literature instead of Nazi propaganda. He was then advised to leave the country. Blessed Jakob travelled to France and Spain, but the Gestapo followed him and tricked him into a meeting in France, saying that two people wanted instruction in Catholicism. Blessed Jakob was arrested and taken to Berlin. On July 2, 1943 he was condemned to death for speaking out against the Reich. Blessed Jakob was later informed that his execution would be on 13th August and that he would be beheaded by the guillotine in Ploetensee prison in Berlin.

On the morning of his execution Blessed Jakob wrote a moving letter to his superiors. Here are some of his words:

"EVERYTHING PASSES, ONLY HEAVEN REMAINS"

‘The sentence will be carried out today. At seven o’clock this evening I will go to our dear Saviour, whom I have always ardently loved. Do not mourn for me. I am completely happy. After such a difficult struggle, I am now at the point of my life where I consider the present day to be the most beautiful of my life. Do not be sad. Everything passes, only heaven remains. We will someday be together again and then there will be no more separation.’

"IT WAS MY DUTY AS A CATHOLIC PRIEST TO TEACH THE TRUTH"

Earlier in his life Blessed Jakob explained: ‘I could have contented myself with a purely interior rejection of Nazism. But I told myself that it was my duty as a Catholic priest to teach the truth and combat error.’

Blessed Jakob was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1996.

(From: Spiritual Thought From Father Chris)