Gerhard Hirschfelder (17 February 1907 – 1 August 1942) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

. He was a vocal critic of

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

and used his sermons to condemn Nazi propaganda and other aspects of Nazism which drew suspicion on him from the authorities who monitored him and even interrogated him on occasion. He was a staunch supporter of the role of adolescents in the life of the Church and made them a focus in his pastoral activities. In his imprisonment he became a member of the

Schoenstatt Movement The Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt () is a Catholic Marian movement founded in Germany in 1914 by Fr Joseph Kentenich, who saw the movement as a means of spiritual renewal for the Catholic Church. The movement is named after the small loc ...

. Hirschfelder's beatification drew intense support after the priest died and 10,000 signatures were put to a petition in a request for his beatification; the formal cause began in the late 1990s and he became titled as a

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

. The beatification was celebrated on 19 September 2010 in

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

with Cardinal

Joachim Meisner Joachim Meisner (25 December 1933 – 5 July 2017) was a German Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Cologne from 1989 to 2014. He previously served as Bishop of Berlin from 1980 to 1989, and was created a cardinal in 1983. He was wid ...

celebrating on the behalf of

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

Life

Gerhard Hirschfelder was born on 17 February 1907 as an illegitimate child to the unmarried Maria Hirschfelder. He received his

baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

on 19 February from Father Bertmann in the Assumption parish. He attended high school at the Glatz school (where he graduated in 1926) and then underwent his theological and philosophical studies at the

University of Breslau A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. But his time there was often tarnished with the knowledge that he was an illegitimate child and he was sometimes ridiculed for that. Hirschfelder received his elevation into the

diaconate A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Catholi ...

on 29 December 1931 in the Breslau Cathedral from Cardinal

Adolf Bertram Adolf Bertram (14 March 1859 – 6 July 1945) was archbishop of Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. Early life Adolf Bertram was born in Hildesheim, Royal Prussian Province of Hanover (now Lower Saxony), Germa ...

. He received his ordination to the priesthood on 31 January 1932 from Cardinal Bertram. He celebrated his first

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

on 1 February 1932 in the church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Bad Langenau. He first served as a chaplain in a small parish until February 1939 when he was transferred to the Habelschwerdt parish. In July 1939 he was called to Glatz to work with adolescents and became a popular pastor and dominated his activism on the children and teenagers because he believed them to be the future of the Church. Czermna-Grab-Hirschfelder-1

He worked with adolescents and discouraged them from joining the

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth ( , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth wing of the German Nazi Party. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. From 1936 until 1945, it was th ...

movement and from being influenced by all the Nazi propaganda circulated at the time."Priest-Martyr of Dachau Beatified", ''Zenit'', September 20, 2010
/ref> He criticized Nazism in his sermons and was denounced as a result of this. In late July 1941 he condemned the destruction of Christian images and said: "He who tears from the heart of young people their faith in Christ is a criminal" and for this was arrested within a week on 1 August when he was taken to the Glatz prison. It was there at that prison that he wrote an intense and deep memoranda on the

Via Crucis The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...

and a series on the

Pauline letters The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest exta ...

as well as on the priesthood and marriage. He was sent straight to the

Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

in mid-December 1941 (without a trial) where he received the prisoner number 28927; he arrived there on 27 December. While in Dachau he became a member of the

. Hirschfelder was imprisoned in block 26/3 alongside the Oblate of Mary Immaculate priest Engelbert Rehling who said he was "almost timid" in his disposition as well as being quite humble. Hirschfelder died on 1 August 1942 due to starvation coupled with acute

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

he had contracted. His remains were cremated and buried some weeks later though recovered; his official cause of death was never disclosed. His grave is located in the Tscherbeney cemetery (now in Poland).

Beatification

There were 10 000 signatures collected asking officials in Münster and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

to begin the cause for beatification. The beatification process opened in the Münster diocese in a diocesan process from 18 September 1998 until its closure in March 1999 though the formal introduction to the cause came under

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

on 19 December 1998 once the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passi ...

issued the "

nihil obstat (Latin for 'nothing hinders' or 'nothing stands in the way') is a phrase traditionally used by Catholic Church authorities to formally declare that there is no objection to the publication of a book. It also has other uses. Publishing The ...

" and titled Hirschfelder as a

. The C.C.S. later validated this process on 15 October 1999 and received the

Positio A ''positio'' (short for the Latin ''positio super virtutibus'': "position on the virtues") is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a Catholic person is declared Venerable, the second of four steps on the path to can ...

in 2002. Theologians approved the cause on 2 October 2009 as did the C.C.S. on 9 February 2010.

approved that Hirschfelder died "in odium fidei" (in hatred of the faith) on 27 March 2010 and thus approved the beatification. Cardinal

presided over the beatification on the pope's behalf in the

Münster Cathedral Münster Cathedral or St.-Paulus-Dom is the cathedral church of the Catholic Diocese of Münster in Germany, and is dedicated to Saint Paul. It is counted among the most significant church buildings in Münster and, along with the Historical ...

on 19 September 2010 with about 4000 people in attendance. The previous week on 13 September saw the pope reference the late priest to the German ambassador at

Castel Gandolfo Castel Gandolfo (, , ; ), colloquially known as Castello in the '' Castelli Romani'' dialects, is a town located southeast of Rome, in the Italian region of Lazio. Situated on a hilltop in the Alban Hills with panoramic views of Lake Albano, Cast ...

as one of hundreds of priests killed in concentration camps during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Archbishop Erwin Josef Ender attended the beatification as did

Dominik Duka Dominik Jaroslav Duka, O.P. (born 26 April 1943) is a Czech prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Prague from 2010 to 2022. He was made a cardinal in 2012. Duka served as Bishop of Hradec Králové from 1998 to 2010. He ...

and Bishop Felix Genn of Münster. Meisner said in his remarks that Hirschfelder placed his trust in "the power of faith". The current

postulator A postulator is the person who guides a cause for beatification or canonization through the judicial processes required by the Catholic Church. The qualifications, role and function of the postulator are spelled out in the ''Norms to be Observed i ...

for the cause is Dr. Andrea Ambrosi.

References

External links

Hagiography Circle

Saints SQPN

Kaplan Gerhard Hirschfelder

Stiftung Kaplan Gerhard Hirschfelder
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirschfelder, Gerhard 1907 births 1942 deaths 20th-century venerated Christians Beatifications by Pope Benedict XVI Catholic saints and blesseds of the Nazi era Deaths from pneumonia in Germany German people who died in Dachau concentration camp German anti-fascists German beatified people Martyred Roman Catholic priests People from Kłodzko Roman Catholics in the German Resistance University of Breslau alumni Deaths by starvation 20th-century German Roman Catholic priests

Life

Beatification

See also

References

External links