Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides) - On Sunday 9 October at 9.30am in St Peter’s Basilica Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints will preside Mass for the Beatification of the Servant of God, Cardinal Clemens August Graf von Galen Bishop of Münster, (1878-1946) and will read by order of Pope Benedict XVI the Apostolic Letter with which the Holy Father inscribes him in the register of the Blessed. Cardinal von Galen was a vocal opponent of the Nazis' persecution of the Jews and of their euthanasia programs. At the end of the ceremony, Benedict XVI will arrive in the basilica in order to venerate the relics of the new Blessed, greet those present and impart his apostolic blessing.
Count Clemens August von Galen was born on 16 March 1878 in Dinklage Castle Oldenburg, Germany. The eleventh of 13 children born to Catholic parents, he was educated at a Jesuit School in Feldkirck. He studied for the priesthood in Fribourg, Innsbruck and Münster and was ordained a priest on 28 May 1904 in Münster. After a short time as Chapter Vicar, in 1906 he was appointed chaplain of St Matthew’s Church Berlin, beginning his priestly ministry in the capital of the Prussian Empire. He lived through the difficult years of World War I, post-war tumults and the long Weimar period. The situation of the Catholic Diaspora in Berlin called for demanding pastoral care.
Elected Bishop of Münster he was ordained on 28 October 1933. Already in his first Pastoral Letter for Lent 1934, he denounced the neo-pagan ideology of National-Socialism and in the following years took a decisive stance for the freedom of the Church and Catholic associations and to retain religious instruction in schools. His homilies, in which he openly accused the national-socialist regime of discriminatory treatment of Christians who were imprisoned and even killed for their beliefs, had world resonance.
The state wanted to arrest and kill him but fearing the reaction of the Catholic people of Münster, in place of the Bishop 24 members of the secular clergy and 18 religious were sent to concentration camps, where 10 of them died. In the difficult post war years the Bishop openly opposed the occupying authorities if this was necessary to stop or avoid injustices.
On 18 February 1946, Pope Pius XII made him a member of the College of Cardinals for his intrepid conduct during the period of National-Socialism. A Basilica of St Peter’s filled to capacity acclaimed him as the “Lion Münster”. On 16 March 1946 Cardinal von Galen on his return to Münster was welcomed by jubilant crowds. In front of the ruins of the Cathedral he gave his last address, the next day he fell ill and died on 22 March 1946. he was buried in Ludgeruskapelle in the crypt of the ruined Cathedral. Clemens August Graf Von Galen is an example of Christian frankness, his fearless witness and inflexible opposition to injustice and inhumanity of the National-Socialist dictatorship stemmed from his profound faith. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 5/10/2005, righe 35, parole 484)
