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Martyrs |
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Karl Leisner (1915-1945), |
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„Victor in Vinculis“ Karl Leisner was born in Rees, Germany. Early in life he joined a Catholic youth organisation to which he owed his spiritual development. He was known to be a wonderful friend to the youth: joyful, communicative, full of life, with a great gift to attract young people. In 1934 he began his theological studies. In 1936 he travelled to Rome by hitchhiking and through a happy coincidence he received the honor of participating in an audience with Pope Pius XI. There he heard him talk about the danger of the “epidemic” of fascism in Germany. Leisner saw the German people threatened both by communism and fascism, both ideologies very hostile to the Church. His work with youth didn’t remain unseen: as he drew attention in Church, the Nazis started observing him. In 1936 the police started following him secretly and searching his house. During this time Karl came to the decision to dedicate his life to the priesthood and on March 25, 1939 he was ordained a deacon. His further studies were interrupted by his imprisonment. At St. Blaise Hospital he inadvertently mentioned his disappointment in a failed assault on Hitler’s life and he was betrayed by a patient who for months had shared his hospital room. Karl Leisner was taken into Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp and later transferred to Dachau. There he shared the fate of so many – hunger, sickness, extreme exhaustion – and finally he was brought to the barracks for the terminally ill. In
1944 the French bishop Gabriel Piquet arrived at the concentration
camp and for Karl this meant a door to his ordination as a priest.
The celebration itself as well as the preparations gave a touching
testimony of unity among the faithful in the midst of all their
diversity. The bishop was given a mitre, vestment and bishop’s
ring by an Orthodox Russian, and the stole bore the inscription,
“Victor in Vinculis” (“victor in chains”),
which was Leisner’s motto – he had used it several times
at the youth groups. The liturgical books and the holy oils were
prepared and the prisoners learned a song that was especially composed
for this event. On the third Sunday of Advent, after a strengthening
caffein injection, Karl Leisner was ordained a priest at the chapel
of the camp. On this day Karl also met with Protestant pastors who
organized a small buffet for him. John Paul II.beatified him, whom he calls the “priest of one single Mass,” on June 23, 1991 in Berlin. |
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