Thursday, January 28, 2016

Fr. Engelmar Unzeitig on Grace




Fr.Hubert  Engelmar Unzeitig was a young German Marianhill Mission priest who was arrested by the Nazis in  Austria in April, 1941 for defending Jews in his sermons.  Unzeitig was sent to Dachau concentration camp, which historians have sometimes labeled "the largest monastery in the world" because the Nazis held 2,700 captive priests, who were 95% from Poland.

Unzeitig remained in decent health for a few years despite the horrid conditions in the concentration camp.  But when a bout of typhoid fever spread throughout the concentration camp in early 1945.   Unzeitig joined 19 other priests to minister in the infirmary, which was an almost certain death sentence.   Unzeitig lived the Marianhill Mission Society's motto "If no one else will go: I will go."
He died in March 1945, which was a few weeks before Dachau was liberated from the Nazis.



Unzeitig was hailed as "The Angel of Dachau" for his holiness.  On January 21st, Pope Francis declared Engelmar Unzeitig a martyr and he will be beatified in the fall of 2016.