Saint Kaspar Stanggassinger

Kaspar Stanggassinger (12 January 1871 – 26 September 1899) was a German Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Redemptorists. His inclination to the priesthood manifested from his childhood and he soon became a seminarian before deciding not be a diocesan priest but part of a religious order after a spiritual experience directed him towards the Redemptorist charism. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1895 and soon began teaching and overseeing new seminarians despite his desire to go out to the missions in Brazil. The beatification cause commenced in 1960 and he later became titled as Venerable upon the confirmation of his life of heroic virtue in 1986; he was later beatified not long after this in 1988. Kaspar Stanggassinger was born in 1871 as the second of sixteen children to Kaspar Stanggassiner and Crescencia Hamberger. His father was a farmer who dabbled in stone since he owned one of the quarries close to their home and who was also a well-respected man in their town. In his childhood the pious Stanggassinger announced that he would become a priest in due course when he grew older. He liked to gather other children and adolescents during periods of vacation and would go to Mass with them or hike or do other activities. On one occasion a friend was in danger of falling while mountain climbing but he risked his life to see him safe and sound. In 1887 he made a private vow to remain chaste and in 1889 contracted a serious illness but recovered and so consecrated himself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. He first attended a high school in Freising and completed his studies there on 7 January 1890 before beginning his studies for the priesthood on 22 November 1890 in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. But he struggled with his studies and so his father issued him with an ultimatum: finish his studies and buckle down or leave and find work someplace.