ALFRED DELP, PRIEST - 2 FEBRUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY

Saints celebrated on the 2nd of February

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ALFRED DELP, PRIEST

Alfred Delp was born in Mannheim, Germany, to a Catholic mother and a Protestant father. Although baptised Catholic, he was raised and confirmed a Lutheran. At the age of 14 he left the Lutheran church and received the sacraments of First Eucharist and Confirmation as a Catholic. In his later life Delp was a fervent promoter of better relations between the churches.

Fr Delp joined the Jesuits in 1926. In the next 10 years he continued his studies and worked with German youth, made more difficult after 1933 with the interference of the Nazi regime. Fr Delp was ordained in 1937. He also worked on the editorial staff of the Jesuit publication Stimmen der Zeit (Voices of the Times), until it was suppressed in 1941. He then was assigned as rector of Sankt Georg Church in Munich and devoted his energy to his duties as a parish priest from then onwards.

Augustin Rösch initiated him into the Kreisau Circle, and in 1942 to 1943 he was an avid participant, helping to ensure that basic premises of Catholic ethical teachings were incorporated into the plans for the future of Germany.

He was convinced that in an age of 'Godlessness' we need to bring about an 'Advent of the Heart' in following the prophetic witness of John the Baptist in combating evils.

Outspoken opposition to the Nazis by individual Jesuits resulted in harsh response from government officials, including imprisonment of priests in concentration camps. The government takeover of church property, "Klostersturm", resulted in the loss of valuable properties such as that of Stimmen der Zeit, and limited the work of the Jesuits in Germany. The Jesuit provincial, Augustin Rösch, Delp's superior in Munich, became active in the underground resistance to Hitler.

 

On July 28, 1944, Fr Delp was arrested in Munich with other members of the circle after the attempted assassination of Hitler in 1944 (although he was not directly involved in the plot) and transferred to Tegel Prison in Berlin. While incarcerated, he secretly began to say Mass and wrote letters, reflections on Advent, on Christmas, and other spiritual subjects, which were smuggled out of the prison before his trial. On December 8, 1944, Fr Delp had a visit from Franz von Tattenbach SJ, sent by Augustin Rösch, to receive his final vows to the Jesuit Order. This was supposedly forbidden, but the attending policemen did not understand what was going on. Delp wrote on the same day, "It was too much, what a fulfillment, I prayed for it so much, I gave my life away. My chains are now without any meaning, because God found me worthy of the 'Vincula amoris' (chains of love)".

After suffering brutal treatment and torture, Delp was brought to trial. While he knew nothing of the attempted assassination, he was offered his freedom if he would renounce the Jesuits. He refused and was hanged February 2, 1945. His body was cremated and his ashes spread in an unknown location near Berlin.

Fr Delp's final parish in Munich submitted documentation supporting the start of his official beatification process to the Archbishop of Berlin in January 1990.

Sources:

https://www.gdw-berlin.de/en/recess/biographies/index_of_persons/biographie/view-bio/alfred-delp/?no_cache=1

https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/51634

https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-voices/20th-century-ignatian-voices/alfred-delp-sj/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Delp