BL. NIKOLAUS GROSS, MARTYR - 23 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 23rd of January

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. NIKOLAUS GROSS, MARTYR 

[Blessed Nikolaus is also commemorated on January 15.] The journalist and functionary of Germany's Catholic Workers' Movement, Blessed Nikolaus Groß (pronounced "Gross") lived with his family in the immediate vicinity of Saint Agnes Church, Cologne, Germany. As early as the mid-1920s, this zealous Catholic layman warned of the looming National Socialism.

HE WAS VERY ACTIVE IN THE CATHOLIC WORKERS' MOVEMENT

"As Catholic workers, we resolutely and unequivocally reject National Socialism not only for political and economic reasons, but also for our religious and cultural stance."

After the failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler (which Bl. Nikolaus was not involved in), he was arrested in his Cologne apartment. On January 23, 1945 he was executed by hanging in Berlin-Ploetzensee.

HE WAS KILLED IN HATRED OF THE FAITH

His cause for sainthood acknowledged that Nikolaus Groß had died in 1945 "in odium fidei" (in hatred of the faith). The  beatification for the murdered journalist took place on October 7, 2001 in Saint Peter's Square, Rome.