Bl. Bernhard Lichtenberg

  Posted on November 6, 2020  by admin  No comments

Born: 3 December 1875 Ohlau, Prussian Silesia, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire

Died: 5 November 1943 (aged 67) While being transported from Berlin to Dachau concentration camp, Germany

Venerated: in Roman Catholic Church (Germany)

Beatified: 23 June 1996, Germany, by Pope John Paul II

Major shrine: St. Hedwig’s Cathedral, Berlin, Germany

Feast day: 5 November

Priest in the diocese of Berlin, Germany. He served in the Berlin Cathedral, and was well known in civic circles. An out-spoken critic of the Nazis and their anti-Semitism, Father Berhard organized protests outside the concentration camps, led public prayers for the Jews after the terrors of Krystallnacht, and filed formal complaints against the racist policies of the party. For these works he was imprisoned for two years. Upon his release he immediately resumed his ministry, both pastoral and social. He was arrested again, sentenced to the Dachau concentration camp, but died en route. Martyr.