Blessed Clemens August von Galen
Blessed Clemens August Graf von Galen (born March 16, 1878 AD in Dinklage, Oldenburg, Germany; died March 22, 1946 AD in Münster, Westphalia, Germany) — known as the "Lion of Münster" — was the German Catholic Cardinal and Bishop of Münster who publicly denounced the Nazi regime's euthanasia program (Aktion T4) in three famous sermons in the summer of 1941, becoming one of the most courageous voices against Nazi atrocity in occupied Germany. An aristocratic Westphalian Catholic of deeply conservative and traditional values, he combined a fierce attachment to the institutional rights of the Church with a principled moral courage that led him to oppose publicly what most German clergy and officials dared not say: that the Nazi state was murdering innocent citizens. He was made a Cardinal in February 1946 and died a month later. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on October 9, 2005. His feast day is March 22.
Stored in Cargo: Blessed Clemens August von Galen
| Blessed Clemens August von Galen | |
|---|---|
| Feast Day | March 22 |
| Profession | Cardinal; Bishop of Münster (1933–1946); German Catholic nobleman (Count); public opponent of Nazi euthanasia; "Lion of Münster"; confessor of the faith under totalitarian persecution |
| Rel. Affiliation | Catholic Church; Diocese of Münster; German Catholic tradition; German Catholic nobility; Westphalian Catholic tradition; 20th-century confessors of the faith under Nazi persecution |
| Patronage | Germany; Münster; Westphalia; the disabled; those persecuted by totalitarian states; bishops who speak truth to power; the Catholic resistance to Nazism; defenders of human dignity |
| Attributes | Cardinal's red vestments; bishop's crozier and miter; a lion (his nickname); the Cathedral of Münster; a scroll (his sermons); March 22 feast |
| Birthplace | Dinklage, Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany |
| Death Place | Münster, Westphalia, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany |
| Cause of Death | Natural death; died March 22, 1946, in Münster; he was 68 years old; he had been appointed a Cardinal just the month before (February 18, 1946) and had returned to Münster from Rome to a triumphant reception; he died of peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) a month after his cardinalate; he was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on October 9, 2005 |
| Primary Shrine | Cathedral of Münster (St. Paul's Cathedral), Münster, Westphalia, Germany — where he preached his sermons and where his remains are interred; March 22 feast; Benedict XVI beatification 2005 |
| Liturgical Class | Not in universal Roman calendar; March 22 feast in Germany and in the Diocese of Münster |
| Historic Class | Not in 1962 calendar |
Biography
Clemens August Graf von Galen was born March 16, 1878, in Dinklage, Oldenburg, as the eleventh of thirteen children of the aristocratic Westphalian Catholic von Galen family. He was ordained a priest and served in Berlin before being appointed Bishop of Münster in 1933 — the same year Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.
As bishop, he opposed Nazi violations of Church rights throughout the 1930s. In the summer of 1941, he delivered three landmark sermons from the pulpit of Münster Cathedral and St. Lambert's Church publicly denouncing the Nazi euthanasia program (Aktion T4) as murder — naming it, describing it, and demanding prosecutions. The sermons were widely distributed throughout Germany; the RAF dropped copies over occupied territories. They created a domestic crisis for the Nazi regime. Hitler suspended the formal T4 program in August 1941.
Galen remained in Münster throughout the war, facing Gestapo threats and the bombing of his residences, but never retracting his words. He was created a Cardinal by Pope Pius XII on February 18, 1946.
He died March 22, 1946, in Münster — just one month after receiving the red hat — of peritonitis.
He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on October 9, 2005. His feast day is March 22.
Significant locations
Legend
Birth location: Dinklage, Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany
Death location: Münster, Westphalia, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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Known shrines
- St. Paul's Cathedral (Dom zu Münster), Münster, Westphalia, Germany — his cathedral; March 22 feast; principal place of veneration.
Feast day
March 22
Veneration
Blessed Clemens August Graf von Galen (1878–1946), "the Lion of Münster," was the German Cardinal-Bishop of Münster who delivered three public sermons in the summer of 1941 naming the Nazi euthanasia program (Aktion T4) as murder — the most direct episcopal denunciation of a Nazi atrocity program during the war — facing arrest and execution to do so, and who contributed directly to the suspension of the formal T4 program; beatified Benedict XVI, October 9, 2005. Feast March 22.
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