Blessed Engelmar Unzeitig

Engelmar Unzeitig , born Hubert Unzeitig, was a German Roman Catholic priest who died in the Dachau Concentration Camp during World War II on the charge of being a priest. He was a professed member of the Missionary Order of Mariannhill and assumed the religious name Engelmar when he was admitted into the order. He became known as the "Angel of Dachau". In 2016, Pope Francis recognized the fact that Unzeitig died in odium fidei (lit. 'in hatred of the faith') and Unzeitig was subsequently beatified on 24 September 2016 in a ceremony presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato acting on the pope's behalf. Hubert Unzeitig was born on 1 March 1911 and had at least one sister. At the age of 18 he commenced his studies for the priesthood and also entered his novitiate with the Mariannhill Missionaries in Reimlingen; this was in contrast to his earlier intention to become part of the missions. He spent his time as a student of both theological and philosophical studies in Würzburg. In May 1938 he made his final profession of vows into the order and was received into it with the name of "Engelmar". He was later ordained to the priesthood on 6 August 1939 just a month before the outbreak of World War II and celebrated his first Mass on 15 August 1939 on the Feast of the Assumption; he was soon after assigned as a parish priest in 1940 in Glöckelberg in Austria (today Zadní Zvonková, Horní Planá, Czech Republic). The Gestapo arrested Unzeitig on 21 April 1941 for defending Jews in his sermons and sent him to the Dachau concentration camp without a trial on 8 June 1941. While there he studied the Russian language in order to tend to the Eastern European prisoners and administered to all prisoners in general in his role as a pastor. In the autumn of 1944 he volunteered to help in catering to victims of typhoid but he soon contracted the disease himself.