On August 9, 1943, Franz Jagerstatter (in photo above), an Austrian farmer and devout Catholic, was beheaded by the Nazis for refusing to serve in Hitler’s army. Having determined that the Nazis were a demonic force, he believed it would endanger his soul to take the military oath. Neighbors thought him mad — or at least a religious fanatic. His pastor and even his bishop tried to dissuade him.

The one person who stood by his side was his wife Franziska. Naturally, she would have preferred not to lose her husband, the father of their three daughters. But she honored his conscience and did nothing to dissuade him from his path.

The letters Franz and his wife exchanged after his arrest reflect their deep love for one another. “Dearly beloved husband,” Franziska’s letters begin. Trying her best to spare Franz the details of her difficulties, she hoped for the best, while constantly expressing her submission to God’s will.

On August 8, 1943, Franz wrote to Franziska: “Dear wife and mother, I thank you once more from my heart for everything that you have done for me in my lifetime, for all the sacrifices that you have borne for me. I beg you to forgive me if I have hurt or offended you, just as I have forgiven everything …. My heartfelt greetings for my dear children. I will surely beg the dear God, if I am permitted to enter heaven soon, that he will set aside a little place in heaven for all of you.”

Franz was beheaded and cremated the following day. In 1946, his ashes were reburied in St. Radegund, Austria near a memorial inscribed with his name and the names of almost 60 village men who died during their military service. He was beatified in Linz, Austria, on October 26, 2007. His “spiritual testament” is now in Rome’s St. Bartholomew Church as part of a shrine to 20th-century martyrs for their faith. Blessed Franz’s liturgical feast is celebrated on August 9.

After learning of his death, his wife wrote, “I have lost a good husband and exemplary father for my children….However, the loving God had ordained things to be otherwise, and our beautiful union was lost. I already look forward to our reunion in heaven where no war can any longer separate us.”

While the war lasted, Franziska suffered scorn from her neighbors as the widow of a traitor. Local embarrassment about Franz’s witness endured for many years. But Franziska lived to see his memory gradually honored, and finally, in 2007, to attend the ceremony of his beatification. She died on March 16, 2013, shortly after her hundredth birthday.

QUOTE: “It was a long Good Friday. But I feel I am closer to Easter now.”

Sources: Give Us This Day and Franciscan Media

Note: A book entitled Franz Jagerstatter: Letters and Writings from Prison by Erna Putz (Editor)

and a 2019 film A Hidden Life directed by Terrance Malik documents their stories.

Read more here (New Oxford Review —  Surviving Family Members of Martyrs: What does holiness look like for a father, mother, carpenter, architect, entertainer, writer, mechanic, software engineer, teacher, doctor, nurse,

pipe-fitter, welder, small business owner?

A Hidden Life —  the Movie

Movie review  /  The movie — A Hidden Life  — is available to stream at Spectrum TV, Redbox, Prime Video, Apple TV or on your Roku device.)

Photo: Catholicmatch.com (Love stronger than death)