We, the
comrades of Unit 1012, will remember Franz Reinisch,
as one of the Catholic Resistance to Nazism and also a Christian Martyr.
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Pater Franz Reinisch SAC
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Franz Reinisch SAC
(February 1, 1903 - August 21, 1942) was a member of the Schoenstatt
Movement. He was a Catholic priest and refused to take the oath of allegiance to Hitler, for which he was executed.
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SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Reinisch
Life
Early life
Franz Reinisch was born on February 1,
1903 in Feldkirch, Austria, and
baptized the next day. His parents dedicated the baptism to the Blessed
Mother. Reinisch grew up with two brothers and two sisters. His father,
Councilor Dr. Franz Reinisch, a finance official, moved often while Reinisch
was a child. The family of Feldkirch moved to Bolzano, Bruneck and finally
to Innsbruck.
During his time in Bolzano, Reinisch survived a serious illness.
From the autumn of 1914 Franz Reinisch
and his brother visited Andreas Gymnasium of the Franciscans in Tirol.
In 1919, the brothers looked for an apartment together in order to be more
independent. Reinisch, who later recalled this time fondly, performed well in
school.
Studies
Franz Reinisch began to study law on
28 September 1922 at the Leopold-Franzens University in Innsbruck . His motto
for this time, derived from the motto of his fraternity K.Ö.HV Leopoldina was
"immovable as the mountains of home, our faith is in Jesus
Christ and Mary." A year later he studied in the Kiel
coroner's office, where he was temporarily a member of the AV-Rheno Guestfalia
Kiel . During this time he participated in a four-week retreat. Through his
experiences in the port city he decided to become a priest. In Innsbruck he
began in the fall of 1923, the study of theology and philosophy.
At the age of 22, Reinisch entered the seminary of Brixen. Here he first had
contact with the Pallotti-priests and engaged into a close friendship with
Pallotti-priest Richard Weickgenannt SAC. Through him he joined the Schoenstatt
movement. During Advent, he took part in a pilgrimage to Rome. The highlight of
this pilgrimage was a papal audience on Christmas
Eve 1926. Two years later, on 29 June 1928, he was ordained a priest in
Innsbruck Cathedral . In the same year on November 3, he took up residence in
the Pallottiner Monastery Untermerzbach in Bamberg. Here he was confronted with
strict house rules. He learned to renounce smoking. Right at the beginning of
the study period, Reinish threw out 150 cigarettes. After just three weeks in
the novitiate, he planned to run away. Reinisch tried to escape over the wall
of the novitiate one evening. However, when he passed the Lourdes Grotto, he
could not go on. He later said that it was as if someone held him. This evening
was for him the key event of his education. In Salzburg he finished his
theological studies in the fall of 1932.
Time in
Schoenstatt
In 1933 Franz Reinisch went to
Augsburg. Here he was responsible for youth work and quickly showed his talent
for preaching. Among the young people he found many enthusiastic listeners.
Through a priestly magazine he first learned of Schoenstatt. Five years later,
in 1938, after several transfers to Constance, Hohenrechberg, to the St. Paul
Home in Bruchsal, Salzburg and Untermerzbach, he finally came to Schoenstatt .
Here Franz Reinisch was entrusted with mission work and men's ministry. He held
here especially many retreats and conferences. From Schoenstatt he undertook
many tours throughout Germany. He also built a close relationship with Father Joseph
Kentenich. Early on he began to confront the emerging ideology of National
Socialism. His troubles with the law began when the Gestapo became aware of his
speeches in which he openly addressed the incompatibility of Christianity with
the ideas of the Nazi regime. For this reason he received a ban on sermons and
speeches on 12 September 1940 . He took up work for the church by translating
ecclesiastical messages and texts from Italian into German magazines. He defied
the ban and continued to attend speeches
Decision of
Conscience
"I, as a Christian and Austrian can never take the oath of allegiance to a man like Hitler. There must be people who are protesting against the abuse of authority, and I feel called to this protest."- Franz Reinisch
On 12 September 1941 Reinisch received
the call-up to join the Wehrmacht. Franz Reinisch, who was convinced that Hitler
was the personification of the Antichrist,
refused the oath of allegiance to Hitler, even though conscientious objectors
expected severe penalties. Although many tried to convince him otherwise,
Father Joseph Kentenich, who by this time was in the concentration camp at Dachau,
strengthened him in his decision. At the time of his decision of conscience he
often prayed before the image of Mary at the Shrine of Schoenstatt: "Dear Mother Thrice Admirable, let me live as an ardent
Schoenstatt apostle and die!" On Easter Tuesday in 1942 he was
given the command for entry into the armed forces. During his prayers he made
the final decision not to make the oath of allegiance. In a visit to Innsbruck,
he told his parents of his decision.
On 15 April 1942 Franz Reinisch
arrived a day later than ordered in the barracks in Bad
Kissingen and immediately declared his refusal to swear the oath of
allegiance to Hitler. He publicly noted that he would swear allegiance to the
German people but never to Adolf Hitler. He was arrested and brought before a
court-martial, charged with undermining military morale. His trial dragged on,
so he was brought in May to the Berlin-Tegel prison, where the initial prison
chaplain denied him communion for failure to perform his duty. In August Franz
Reinisch was moved to Brandenburg in Berlin, where he received a court order to
be sentenced. In prison he wrote the poem "You're the Great People",
as a dirge in anticipation of a death sentence. On 20 August 1942 the death
sentence was read aloud at 20:00 clock by the public prosecutor. Reinisch
commented, "The convict is not a revolutionary, a
revolutionary is a head of state and public enemy who fights with fists and
violence; he is a Catholic priest with the weapons of the spirit and of faith.
And he knows what he is fighting." Franz Reinisch prayed all night
and wrote a farewell letter to his parents and siblings. One of the last words
of greeting from the prison cell was "love and suffering into joy. F.
Reinisch". On August 21, 1942 he made holy confession at midnight. At 1:00
am he received Holy Communion. At 3:00 he gave all the things he had to his
family, including a cloth in which the Eucharist was wrapped, his death cross,
the rosary, some books and a farewell letter. At 3:30 his shoes and socks were
taken off, his hands were tied behind his back, and he was led to the basement
execution chamber. At 5:03 Franz Reinisch was beheaded. His ashes were then
buried next to the Original Shrine in Schoenstatt.
Influence
Reinisch's attitude encouraged other
the prisoners sentenced for similar actions, for example Franz Jägerstätter, in his decision to refuse military service, who was
executed in 1943.
Honours
On 28 May 2013 the Bishop in Trier,
Stephan Ackermann, started the process for beatification for Reinisch. The
postulator for this process is Father Heribert SAC.
His feast day is 21 August. Since
1962, in the night of 20 until 21 August is the Reinisch-Vigil of his thought.
In Schwäbisch Gmünd reminds one at the
Cultural Center "preacher" attached table to the local victims of
National Socialism, including Father Reinisch. In the "preacher" and
the Gestapo offices were set up from 1938.
In his native town of Feldkirch the
Franz Reinisch pathway is named after him, and in Innsbruck/Wilten there is a
road sign the Pater-Reinisch-way, dedicated in 1983. In 2001, the municipality
Vallendar named the Father Franz Reinisch Bridge after him. In Germany in
Friedberg (Bavaria) there is a street named after him, and the Schoenstatt
Youth of the Archdiocese of Bamberg gave its house the name Reinisch. Memorial
Chapel Cathedral Passau
Bad Kissingen has remembered Reinisch
since 2001 with a memorial stone. Also in Bad Kissingen the
Father-Reinisch-house of the Schoenstatt movement is in the diocese of
Würzburg, which was named after him in 1979. The Pallotinerzentrum in Castle
Hersberg in Immenstaad has a plaque dedicated to Reinisch.
Reinisch is honored in the Cathedral
of Passau in the Memorial Chapel.
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