SCJ MARTYRS
In the encyclical prepared for the Great Jubilee 2000, The Advent of the third Millennium, Pope John Paul II introduced the idea of preserving the memory of Christians who died for their faith during the 20th Century.
In our own century the martyrs have returned, many of them nameless, "unknown soldiers," as it were, of God's great cause. As far as possible, their witness should not be lost to the Church. (TM 37)
In response to this appeal a commission was established at the Vatican which has gathered and catalogued the stories of more than twelve thousand Christians world wide who died for the faith during the 20th Century. It does not deal with the process of beatification or canonization, but recalls the accounts of Christians who were killed because they were Christian. The Vatican in this case prefers to call them witnesses to the faith, thus the term new martyrs:
The history of their murders is the story of their weakness and their defeat. Nevertheless these Christians in spite of their weaknesses displayed a special moral and spiritual strength of character: They did not renounce their faith, their convictions, their service to others, or the Church in order to save their lives or assure their survival. In extreme weakness and at great risk they demonstrated tremendous strength. This is in reality the history of Christianity. On this Christians of the 21st century are called to reflect in order to emulate their strength of faith. Such a reflection will also force us to a clearer understanding of the history of the past century (Andrea Riccardi, cit. p. 12).
The SCJ Family is a part of this reality. March 11, 2001, will be the beatification of Fr. Juan Maria de la Cruz García Méndez, SCJ (1891-1936), a joyous occasion and one that should fill SCJs with gratitude. However, Fr. Méndez is not the only SCJ martyr of the XXth century. In the coming months we will recount the stories of various SCJs who gave witness to the power of weakness in their Christianity, beginning this month with two priests who died at the hands of the Nazis in 1942
Victims of Nazi Terror:
Fr. Joseph Benedict Wampach, SCJ,
and
Fr. Nicholas Anthony Stoffels, SCJ
"I am in the hands of God; a Catholic priest must always be proud to carry and share in the cross of Our Master. My consolation lies in prayer and in union with God and, certainly, in your love for me." (Dachau Concentration Camp May 3, 1942, Fr. Stoffels wrote in a letter to his sister.)
Fr. Joseph Benedict Stoffels, SCJ, was born on January 13, 1895, at Itzig in Luxemburg and Fr. Nicholas Anthony Wampach, SCJ, was born on November 3, 1909, at Bilsdorf in Luxemburg. These two SCJ priests were sent to minister to Luxemburgers in Paris near where the future parish of St. Joseph the Worker would be established. Fr. Stoffels was the founder of the Luxemburg Mission in Paris. Since pastoral work among his fellow Luxemburgers was expanding, his superior sent Fr. Wampach to help out in 1938. In his booklet on "Martyrs of the SCJs," Fr. Bothe wrote:
"In 1940 after the invasion of Luxemburg by the Germans, many Luxemburgers fled to Paris where these two SCJs, together with a diocesan priest, helped the refugees. After the fall of France, they helped many in their quest to return to Luxemburg. In a journal it is written: 'In this purely charitable work ... the Gestapo (the Nazi Secret Police) suspected espionage.' After several interrogations toward the end of 1940, the two priests were finally arrested on March 7, 1941, and sent to Buchenwald. They were transferred to Dachau on September 21, 1941. No longer possessing a personal identity, numbers were tattooed on their arms. Fr. Stoffels was #27179 and Fr. Wampach #27178." (Bothe, p. 19)
The official story is that they died of bronchitis or angina. The family of Fr. Stoffels was sent his ashes. As happened in many similar cases, the funerals were held under the surveillance of the Gestapo on August 31, 1942, almost secretly, without bells, songs or participation by parishioners.
"Only after forty years of research has it been learned that the two SCJ priests were gassed at Hartheim Castle in Austria together with two other priests from Luxemburg. Hartheim is about 165 miles from Dachau in a tiny region of Austria called Alkoven, not far from Linz. Here a chamber was constructed to experiment with different types of gas. The trip from Dachau to Hartheim took about four hours. The windows of the van were blacked out and it was officially designated as an ambulance. In the castle the procedures were the same as in other concentration camps. The prisoners were striped of everything. Under the pretext that they were to be photographed they were led to the 'showers' in which gas issued from the shower heads ." (Bothe, p. 21)
Hartheim Castle is a fine example of a Renaissance castle. Under the Nazis it had various uses. It was an integral part of the Nazi euthanasia program, working in conjunction with both Dachau and Mauthausen. Sick and disabled people were sent here for cruel experimentation and then gassed. In this context Fr. Stoffels, who had suffered from a number of illnesses especially respiratory infections, was transferred to Hartheim under the pretense that he was an invalid. Later on, the gas chambers at Hartheim served a base for asphyxiation gas experimentation for war use. This fact emerged in a letter from Dr. Rascher (a member of the SS) to Reichsfuehrer Himmler with whom he had spoken at both Dachau and Hartheim (1942):
"Since the invalids transported here always end up in certain chambers" (i.e., gas chambers), I wonder if it's not possible to use these chambers to test out on them the effects of various asphyxiating gases. Up until now all we have is the documentation of the animal experiments, as well as the reports of accidents during the production of the gases."
Fr. Stoffels was murdered in one of the gas chambers on May 25,1942. Fr. Wampach on August 12,1942.
In the church of St. Joseph the Worker, which was under the care of the SCJs until 1990, there is a memorial to the two martyrs which reads:
In eternal memory . . . for those who suffered and died for faith, for country, for justice and for liberty, we will never forget them.
