Tarmac October 2007.pdf - Chaminade High School

Flyers Journey to Germany, Austria
Pilgrimage Highlights 20th-Century Heroes of the Church
6
by Alex Kamath ‘09
Alex Hildebrandt ’08 strode across the
living room and shook hands with
Franziska Jägerstätter and her
daughter Maria. He introduced himself, and
the three began a conversation.
Alex and several fellow Flyers were
guests in the Jägerstätters’ farmhouse in
St. Radegund, Austria. They were thousands
of miles away from their homes on
Long Island – noteworthy in itself.
Even more notable was this rare opportunity
to meet a living piece of history – the
wife of Austrian martyr Franz Jägerstätter.
“It was inspirational to meet someone
who had endured so much hardship in her
life and still found the strength and the
faith to raise her children by herself. Despite
all that hardship, to this day she still
supports her husband’s decision to oppose
the Nazi regime,” said Alex.
Alex and 27 other Chaminade students,
along with moderators Bro. Richard Hartz
and Mr. Richard Tully, had come to visit
the shrine of Franz Jägerstätter, who will
be beatified on October 26 in Linz, Austria.
Jägerstätter’s hometown was one of many
stops on a pilgrimage that highlighted five
20 th century heroes of the Catholic faith who
lived under the Nazi government.
Alex Hildebrandt ‘08 (3 rd from l.) meets
Franziska Jägerstätter (2 nd from l.), the
wife of Austrian martyr Franz Jägerstätter,
and her daughter Maria. With them is
Marianist Bro. Alfred Aigner (l.) of the
German-Austrian Region.
“We had read about all of these people
before we departed for Germany and Austria,
but their stories were truly brought
to life at each of the places we visited,”
said Mr. Tully. “Our trip made their stories
more tangible and had a profound impact
on all of us.”
Franz Jägerstätter had refused to serve in
Hitler’s army during World War II and was
imprisoned in Linz and Berlin. In 1943, he
was beheaded, but he left behind a set of
moving letters that summed up his beliefs.
SUMMER TRAVELS
“We need no rifles or pistols for
our battle, but instead, spiritual
weapons – and the foremost of
these is prayer.”
“Twentieth-Century Heroes of
the Church,” Chaminade’s pilgrimage
this summer, departed for
Germany on July 17 and returned
to New York on July 27. The pilgrims
landed in Berlin, where they
visited Plötzensee Prison, the site
where Blessed Jakob Gapp was executed
by the Gestapo for his outspoken
opposition to the Nazi regime.
Following the tour of the
prison, the group conducted a
prayer service in honor Blessed
Gapp at the Regina Martyrum
Monastery. This was the first
of five different prayer services
held to commemorate each
“20 th century hero of the
Church.”
“The trip tried to emphasize
the courage of these five people
who stood up to the Nazis, even
to the point of death,” said Bro. Richard,
who planned the pilgrimage. “Each service
allowed us to reflect on their sacrifices,
both on the personal level and
for the faith.”
From Berlin, the group traveled
to Vienna, Austria, the site
of a shrine to Blessed Sr. Maria
Restituta. She had been a
nurse at a hospital in Vienna
and had spoken against the
Nazis to both her colleagues
and her patients. A Nazi doctor
who worked in the hospital
betrayed Sr. Restituta; she
was beheaded in 1943.
Chaminade’s pilgrims vis-
ited the motherhouse of the
Franciscan Sisters of Christian
Charity, Blessed Sr. Restituta’s
religious order. At the chapel
there, they had a memorial
prayer service.
“It was a small chapel and
late in the afternoon. There were already
elderly nuns and patients inside the
chapel, and the students filled the chapel
completely,” said Bro. Richard. “At the
end of our service, the nuns and students
alike sang the Salve Regina (a hymn in
Latin dedicated to Mary) in unison. It was
a moving experience for all.”
“This was one of the things that I enjoyed
most about the trip – that we had the opportunity
to visit places that ordinary tourists
never get to see,” said Jimmy Kovar ’10.
Frau Dr. Erna Putz places flowers at the
shrine of Franz Jägerstätter as Ryan Minett
‘10, Mike Warch ‘09, Pat Donnelly ‘08, John
Ready ‘09, and Tyler Pastori ‘09 look on.
From Vienna, the pilgrims traveled
through Linz and Upper Austria to
Munich and the Bavarian Alps, where the
Gestapo had placed Blessed Rupert
Mayer, a Jesuit, under house arrest. He
had denounced Adolf Hitler; pointed out
the fallacies of Nazi propaganda; and
preached Catholic dogma, despite the
threat of execution.
Blessed Mayer escaped execution, however,
because he was so well loved in
Munich and its environs. The Nazis feared
that his execution would incite a revolution.
The pilgrims’ final stop was Dachau, one
of the most infamous of the Nazi concentration
camps. There, the students visited
the spot where Blessed Fr. Otto Neururer
had been executed. Blessed Neururer had
been a member of the Christian Social
Movement and had defended the civil
rights of his parishioners in Götzens, Austria.
“It was difficult to imagine the sheer
number of atrocities that had been committed
at Dachau,” said Ryan Horrmann ’09.
In addition to visiting the sites associated
with these heroes of the Church, the
Flyers spent time at many well-known
tourist destinations, including the
Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria and the
Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.
“I felt that the common thread for the
pilgrimage was the opportunity to reflect
on the lives of those who had the courage
to stand up for their beliefs,” said Mr.
Tully. “They were ordinary people who
had extraordinary faith.”
Tarmac • October 2007