As The BV Mary accompanied Jesus
So Franziska accompanied Blessed
Franz
I’ve never been to the Holy Land. People who have say it helps them read the Gospels with a personalized perspective. Once having seen the
place, the Jesus Story has
a setting their own eyes have seen,
including traces of the Roman Empire which dominated peoples’
lives.
My twenty five years working as a
priest in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Guatemala helped me read the Gospels as if Jesus had spent his 33 years on
earth in a
small town in Central
America at the time it was domina ted by, if not a colony of, the American Empire. And now my week in Austria
in late October for the Beatification
of Franz Jagerstatter who lived his
last years under the domination of Hitler’s Imperial Germany has given me a feel for what a commitment to the Kingdom
Jesus spoke
of, means for someone trying to render
to Caesar what is Caesar and to God what is God’s in the mid-20th Century times of the Third Reich.
When Franz was told to take an oath
to The Fuhrer, he refused because he was convinced it would override his baptismal commitment to the non-violent Jesus, replacing
it with an oath to the most-violent Hitler. (Read a brief biography at: ww.cjd.org/paper/franz.html)
Franz would have been 100 years old
had he lived to see his giant-sized photo raised behind the main altar of the Cathedral in Linz,
Austria the 26th
of October, 2007. to the applause of some 5,000 people, including several Cardinals and dozens of Bishops. Most
of these are the succes-sors to those high Austrian prelates who “were not given the grace” – as Franz often
observed -- to refuse to cooperate with the Nazi Regime. And there in the front
pew just a few feet from where we priest-concelebrants sat, was Franz’ 94 year old widow, Franziska, as royal in her
appearance as Queen Elizabeth herself. At her side were the couples’
three daughters, the youngest being Louisa, who was born the same month and year as myself.
(May, 1940).
(Online story of the Beatification
with photos at:www.paxchristi.org.uk/press.html)
Constant attention was given to Franziska
at the Cathedral, and later in the day at an opera held in the old Cathedral & composed to honor Franz. This Opera portrayed the tender regard Franz always had for Franziska and their three children as he steadfastly
prepared for his execution. Attention on Franziska at the Beatification was merited because the letters the two exchanged
while Franz was in prison reveal the total support she provide for her husband despite the sacrifice his death would mean
for herself and their children. The honors for Fransizka continued that evening
at the palace of the Governor of Upper Austria where a reception was held and speeches made.
In fact the Austrian State was
quicker to recognize Franz Jagerstatter as a national hero than the Church was willing to beatify him. In 1983 Austria
issued a postage stamp in his honor and in 1997 annulled The Reich’s Court martial of Franz. Only finally in 2007 does the Church call him a true martyr worthy of imitation. Yet, delayed Joy is still
Joy.
We pilgrims then made our way to
the town of Ostermiething, 3 miles from Franz’ home vill-age for a peace
vigil in the parish church the evening of October 27th. More speeches were made but most significant for me were
the presentations prepared by the towns’ children and youth. One dramatized
Franz’ dream of the “Train Going to Hell.” In Franz dream it
was packed with both adults and children who were willing to follow the Nazis to damnation.
But in the drama that evening the children were asked: “Are you
going to board this train to hell? And one by one each responded: “Nein!”
and explained in a phrase why they would not. Then the teenagers sang an upbeat
song all in German, except for the phrase in English: STAND UP! Stand up for the truth…Stand up against “that crooked game” as Franz called
it. I could not help but see why so-called “old Europe”
stood up against participating in invasion and occupation of Iraq.
They’ve taken to heart Franz’ advice. Now it’s up to we Americans to take and live that advice as well.
To do that it helps to learn more about Franz Jagerstatter (as well as learn
of individ-ual war resisters of the year 2007: Consult: www.CourageToResist.org. )
Sunday, October 28th,
Father Pickard and myself met Fr. Steinkellner, pastor of Franz’ village parish.. He graciously lent us each an alb
for the concelebrated liturgy, presided over by Bishop Ludwig Schwarz of Linz and accompanied by retired Bishop Maximilian
Aichern and Inns-bruck’s Bishop Manfred Scheuer who was postulator for the Cause of Franz’ beatification.
Those of us who arrived in St. Radegund
early deposited prayer intention we had brought with us and then prayed at Franz grave beside the south wall of the chapel.
We then joined the pro-cession starting outside town. While this village’s
favored son, Franz Jagerstatter was the rea-son his hometown’s celebration, Fransiska once again stole the show. While
her daughters rode an ornamental couch drawn by a pair of show horses, Fransizka joined the procession in a mo-torcycle sidecar,
surely as a reminder to us all that she and Franz had traveled to Rome in the same way for their honeymoon in 1936. This sight
brought cheers and tears of joy to the crowd.
The Cheers and tears of joy were
needed because Father Pickard myself, and two Catholic lay-men also visited the Nazi’s Austrian concentration camp at
Mauthausen where 105,000 people were killed or perished as a result of the torments of camp life. With its gas chambers and
cre-matory it ranks with the better known camps at Auschwitz, Buchenwald and
Dachau. These were the sites for humanity’s Golgatha in 20th
Century Christian Europe. Franz’ REFUSAL (the title of a moving DVD available
from me for the asking) and the Church’s recognition of this Martyr for the Faith, points to our way for avoiding the
20st Century’s mistakes: One can do it by saying NO to war and preparation for war and being willing to take
the consequences of this NO. And there are consequences. Careers will be truncated. People might not be beatified like Franz, but they are more likely to win The
Crown promised to the faithful.
(Fr) Bernard Survil, Greensburg,
PA, 31
October, 2007 Fr.Survil@EmbraceAllOfLife.us
Updates on Conscientious Objection
for Catholics: www.catholicpeacefellowship.org 