Josef Mayr-Nusser
Roman Catholic Church | |
---|---|
Beatified | 18 March 2017 by Cardinal Angelo Amato |
Feast | 3 October |
Josef Mayr-Nusser (27 December 1910 – 24 February 1945) was an Italian
Mayr-Nusser was hailed for living his life according to the tenets of the Gospel and of Vincent de Paul.
Life
Josef Mayr-Nusser was born on 27 December 1910 in Bolzano into a rural German-Italian household. He grew up on a farm in which his devout parents instilled in him Christian values along with his elder brother Jakob,[2] who enrolled in a seminary to become a priest.
Mayr-Nusser became fascinated with the life and works of
Mayr-Nusser's friends nicknamed him "Pepi" in his adolescence and early adulthood.
On 26 May 1942 he married Hildegard Straub (1907–1998) and his son Alberto was born in 1943.
As part of Nazi conscription during
As a result of this Mayr-Nusser was jailed and later transferred to
From prison Mayr-Nusser sent a range of letters to his wife and said of his actions: "You would not be my wife if you expected something different from me".[4] In February 1945 he was sentenced to death for treason and was ordered to be shot by a firing squad at the Dachau concentration camp. However, he fell ill with dysentery, and en route via train to Dachau with approximately 40 others being sent to the camp, died on the morning of 24 February 1945. When his corpse was discovered, he was found with a Bible and rosary on his person.
Mayr-Nusser's remains were transferred to the Lichtenstern chapel on the Ritten in 1958.
Legacy
Several places are named after him as a tribute to his life and sacrifice.
On 19 March 2017 on the feast of Saint Joseph, Pope Francis described Mayr-Nusser as "a model for the lay faithful, especially for fathers, who we remember with great affection today."[6]
Beatification
The beatification process was set to commence in Bolzano after rights for the cause transferred from
Pope Francis approved the beatification on 8 July 2016 and he was beatified in Bolzano on 18 March 2017 with Cardinal Angelo Amato presiding over the celebration on the pope's behalf.[7][8] The current postulator of the cause is Carlo Calloni. The first postulator assigned was Josef Innerhofer.
Historians criticized the fact that the political dimension of Mayr-Nusser's resistance to the Nazi regime had been left out of the process of beatification, since this question also touched on the failure of the Church itself towards both the fascist and the nazi regime.[9]
References
- ^ "Martyr of the First Commandment – William Doino Jr". August 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
- ^ Likely German. The Italian form is "Iacopo"
- ^ a b c "Servant of God Josef Mayr-Nusser". Santi e Beati. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ^ a b "One Who Shunned Oath to Hitler Is on Possible Path to Beatification". Zenit. 13 January 2004. Retrieved 8 January 2016.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Cause of canonization of German man who opposed Nazis moves forward". 21 March 2007. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ^ "Pope Francis: Bd Joseph Mayr-Nusser a model for fathers". Retrieved 2 October 2017.
- ^ "Beato. «Disse no a Hitler». Oggi sugli altari Josef Mayr-Nusser". 18 March 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
- ^ "This layman who refuted Nazism was declared a martyr by Pope Francis". Retrieved 2 October 2017.
- ^ Hannes Obermair, Heinrich Schwazer (18 March 2017). "Josef Mayr-Nusser: Ärgernis für die Kirche". Retrieved 24 June 2022.