Blessed Jakob Gapp. oneelbk on Aug 22, 2010 This is a short video about Blessed Jakob Gapp, an Austrian priest martyred by the Nazis who I profile in the book, 39 New Saints You Should Know. The book …More
Blessed Jakob Gapp.
oneelbk on Aug 22, 2010 This is a short video about Blessed Jakob Gapp, an Austrian priest martyred by the Nazis who I profile in the book, 39 New Saints You Should Know. The book retails for $13.99, and you can purchase it through www.servantbooks.com, www.sacredhearttours.com, or through your local store (see catholicstorefinder.com). Any feedback is appreciated. And be sure to join the book's fan page on Facebook.
oneelbk on Aug 22, 2010 This is a short video about Blessed Jakob Gapp, an Austrian priest martyred by the Nazis who I profile in the book, 39 New Saints You Should Know. The book retails for $13.99, and you can purchase it through www.servantbooks.com, www.sacredhearttours.com, or through your local store (see catholicstorefinder.com). Any feedback is appreciated. And be sure to join the book's fan page on Facebook.
Blessed Jakob Gapp
13 August
Profile
Seventh child in the working class family of Martin Gapp and Antonia Wach. Received a basic education in his native town, then entered the Franciscan high school in Hall in 1910. Austrian soldier on the Italian front from May 1915 till he was wounded in 1916; received the silver medal of Courage Second Class. On 4 November 1918 he became a prisoner of war…More
Blessed Jakob Gapp
13 August
Profile
Seventh child in the working class family of Martin Gapp and Antonia Wach. Received a basic education in his native town, then entered the Franciscan high school in Hall in 1910. Austrian soldier on the Italian front from May 1915 till he was wounded in 1916; received the silver medal of Courage Second Class. On 4 November 1918 he became a prisoner of war in Riva del Garda; released on 18 August 1919.
After the War, he entered the Marianist novitiate at Greisinghof, Upper Austria in 1921. Assigned to the Marian Institute in Graz as a teacher and sacristan for four years, while preparing for the seminary. Made his profession at Antony, France on 27 August 1925. In September 1925 Jakob entered the International Marianist Seminary in Fribourg, Switzerland. Ordained by Bishop Marius Besson at Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Fribourg on 5 April 1930.
Back in Austria he worked as a teacher, director of religious education, and chaplain in Marianist schools till 1938. Economic conditions were terrible; Father Gapp collected food and other necessities from students, and gave his own heating coal to the poor.
Nazism was on the rise in Germany and Austria. Father Gapp saw the incompatibility of Nazism and Christianity, and began preaching this truth. When German troops arrived in Austria in March 1938, he left Graz. His superiors sent him home as they believed his anti–Nazi preaching would bring on the wrath of the Reich; but his institutions were already marked for destruction.
In Tirol he enjoyed the last moments of peace in his life. He was an assistant pastor in Breitenwang-Reutte for two months when the Gestapo, in October 1938, ordered him not to teach religion. Father Gapp taught uncompromising love for all men and women without reference to nationality or religion, and that “God is your God, not Adolf Hitler.” In a sermon on 11 December 1938 he defended Pope Pius XI against the attacks of the Nazis, and directed the faithful of the parish to read Catholic literature instead of Nazi propaganda. He was advised to leave the country.
He escaped to Bordeaux, France, where he worked as a chaplain and librarian. In May 1939 he went to Spain where he served in the Marianist communities at San Sebastian, Cadiz and Valencia. The Gestapo followed him, and in 1942 he received word of two people across the border in France who claimed to be Jews fleeing from Nazis in Berlin, Germany, and who wanted instruction in Catholicism. When he crossed into France to minster to them, they abducted him.
Father Gapp was arrested on 9 November 1942 in Hendaye, France, and brought to Berlin. On 2 July 1943 he was condemned to death for speaking against the Reich. Burial of his remains were denied as the Nazis feared he would be seen as a martyr, and his grave become a site of silent demonstration and rebellion. On the afternoon of 13 August 1943 he was advised he would executed that night. He wrote two moving farewell letters, and was martyred.
Born
26 July 1897 at Wattens, Tyrol, Austria
Died
guillotined at 7.08pm 13 August 1943 at Plotzensee Prison, Berlin, Germany
remains used for research at the Anatomical-Biological Institute of the University of Berlin
Venerated
6 April 1995 by Pope John Paul II (decree of martyrdom)
Beatified
24 November 1996 by Pope John Paul II
13 August
Profile
Seventh child in the working class family of Martin Gapp and Antonia Wach. Received a basic education in his native town, then entered the Franciscan high school in Hall in 1910. Austrian soldier on the Italian front from May 1915 till he was wounded in 1916; received the silver medal of Courage Second Class. On 4 November 1918 he became a prisoner of war in Riva del Garda; released on 18 August 1919.
After the War, he entered the Marianist novitiate at Greisinghof, Upper Austria in 1921. Assigned to the Marian Institute in Graz as a teacher and sacristan for four years, while preparing for the seminary. Made his profession at Antony, France on 27 August 1925. In September 1925 Jakob entered the International Marianist Seminary in Fribourg, Switzerland. Ordained by Bishop Marius Besson at Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Fribourg on 5 April 1930.
Back in Austria he worked as a teacher, director of religious education, and chaplain in Marianist schools till 1938. Economic conditions were terrible; Father Gapp collected food and other necessities from students, and gave his own heating coal to the poor.
Nazism was on the rise in Germany and Austria. Father Gapp saw the incompatibility of Nazism and Christianity, and began preaching this truth. When German troops arrived in Austria in March 1938, he left Graz. His superiors sent him home as they believed his anti–Nazi preaching would bring on the wrath of the Reich; but his institutions were already marked for destruction.
In Tirol he enjoyed the last moments of peace in his life. He was an assistant pastor in Breitenwang-Reutte for two months when the Gestapo, in October 1938, ordered him not to teach religion. Father Gapp taught uncompromising love for all men and women without reference to nationality or religion, and that “God is your God, not Adolf Hitler.” In a sermon on 11 December 1938 he defended Pope Pius XI against the attacks of the Nazis, and directed the faithful of the parish to read Catholic literature instead of Nazi propaganda. He was advised to leave the country.
He escaped to Bordeaux, France, where he worked as a chaplain and librarian. In May 1939 he went to Spain where he served in the Marianist communities at San Sebastian, Cadiz and Valencia. The Gestapo followed him, and in 1942 he received word of two people across the border in France who claimed to be Jews fleeing from Nazis in Berlin, Germany, and who wanted instruction in Catholicism. When he crossed into France to minster to them, they abducted him.
Father Gapp was arrested on 9 November 1942 in Hendaye, France, and brought to Berlin. On 2 July 1943 he was condemned to death for speaking against the Reich. Burial of his remains were denied as the Nazis feared he would be seen as a martyr, and his grave become a site of silent demonstration and rebellion. On the afternoon of 13 August 1943 he was advised he would executed that night. He wrote two moving farewell letters, and was martyred.
Born
26 July 1897 at Wattens, Tyrol, Austria
Died
guillotined at 7.08pm 13 August 1943 at Plotzensee Prison, Berlin, Germany
remains used for research at the Anatomical-Biological Institute of the University of Berlin
Venerated
6 April 1995 by Pope John Paul II (decree of martyrdom)
Beatified
24 November 1996 by Pope John Paul II
www.romereports.com/en/ This documentary has just been released. It is called “Santiago Gapp, the priest who confronted Hitler.” It is the story of this Marianist, who was persecuted and executed by the Gestapo for opposing the Nazis.
The story begins when Santiago discovered his vocation to the priesthood, after serving in the Austrian army during World War I.
He entered the Marianists and …More
The story begins when Santiago discovered his vocation to the priesthood, after serving in the Austrian army during World War I.
He entered the Marianists and was ordained a priest. He was famous for strongly criticizing Nazism in his homilies.
www.romereports.com/…/documentary-abo…
Jacobo Gapp, Beato Presbítero y Mártir, 13 de agosto
es.catholic.net/santoral/articulo.php
Jacobo Gapp, Beato
Presbítero y Mártir
Martirologio Romano: En Berlín, en el lugar llamado Plötzensee, en Alemania, beato Jacobo Gapp, presbítero de la Compañía de María y mártir, que, con firmeza de ánimo, proclamó que los criminales proyectos de un régimen militar enemigo de la dignidad humana y …More
Jacobo Gapp, Beato Presbítero y Mártir, 13 de agosto
es.catholic.net/santoral/articulo.php
Jacobo Gapp, Beato
Presbítero y Mártir
Martirologio Romano: En Berlín, en el lugar llamado Plötzensee, en Alemania, beato Jacobo Gapp, presbítero de la Compañía de María y mártir, que, con firmeza de ánimo, proclamó que los criminales proyectos de un régimen militar enemigo de la dignidad humana y cristiana estaban en total desacuerdo con la doctrina cristiana. Por ello, sometido a persecución, se dirigió a Francia y España en calidad de desterrado, pero, apresado por unos emisarios, murió finalmente decapitado (1943).
El P. Jakob Gapp fue condenado a muerte por defender la fe católica y por criticar las doctrinas del nazismo.
Había nacido en Wattens, Austria, el 26 de julio de 1897. Sintió la llamada de Dios cuando tenía 22 años, e ingresó en el noviciado de los marianistas. Recibió la ordenación sacerdotal cuando tenía 33 años. Pronto se vio envuelto en un ambiente de tensiones y de luchas políticas, debidas, sobre todo, al creciente influjo de las ideas hitlerianas. Tras estudiar a fondo el pensamiento del nacionalsocialismo, llegó a la conclusión de que era una doctrina intrínsecamente anticatólica. Decidió, desde entonces, oponerse con decisión a la misma.
El nacismo llegó a imponerse en Alemania y en Austria, por lo que la vida del P. Gapp corría grave peligro. Sus superiores decidieron que fuese a trabajar primero a Francia, y luego a España. En España se dedicó especialmente a la formación de los jóvenes, en medio de no pocas incomprensiones y críticas.
Pero la policía secreta de Hitler había decidido acabar con su vida. Por medio de un personaje misterioso, que se hizo pasar por un judío deseoso de convertirse, prepararon una trampa. El P. Jakob Gapp fue invitado por el falso amigo a hacer un paseo por el sur de Francia (ocupada por los alemanes), donde fue inmediatamente arrestado por la Gestapo. Era el mes de noviembre de 1942.
Gapp atravesó Francia para ser encarcelado en Berlín. Allí fue procesado como traidor. Se han conservado las actas de los interrogatorios, en los que el P. Gapp defendió con firmeza su fe católica y su deseo de mantenerla con coherencia, con amor, plenamente consciente de que podría perder su vida con su actitud de creyente convencido.
Fue condenado a muerte. La ejecución de la sentencia quedó fijada para el 13 de agosto de 1943. Era el día del aniversario de su ingreso al noviciado de los marianistas. Antes de morir, pudo escribir dos breves cartas, una a sus primos y otra a su superior. En ellas se descubre la sencillez, el valor y la fe propia de tantos mártires de ayer y de hoy, de tantos hombres y mujeres que ponen en Cristo toda su esperanza.
A sus primos les decía, entre otras cosas, lo siguiente: “Hoy será ejecutada la sentencia. A las 7 me presentaré a mi buen Salvador, a quien siempre amé ardientemente. No lloréis por mí. Soy plenamente feliz. Sin duda que he pasado muchas horas en la tristeza, pero he podido prepararme a la muerte del mejor modo posible. ¡Buscad vivir santamente y soportad cualquier cosa por amor de Dios, para que podamos reencontrarnos en el cielo! Saludad a todos, parientes y conocidos. En el paraíso me acordaré de todos”.
Y continúa un poco más adelante: “Después de haber luchado largo tiempo contra mí mismo he llegado a considerar este día como el más hermoso de mi vida. Dios os recompense por todo el bien que me habéis hecho desde mi niñez. ¡Seppl, querido Seppl, cuántas veces te he recordado! No estés triste. Todo pasa, sólo el cielo permanece. Nos encontraremos de nuevo. Entonces no habrá ninguna separación. ¡Avisa de mi muerte a los más íntimos! He sido condenado como traidor a la patria”.
En la carta que dirige a su superior, escrita ese mismo día, expresa ideas parecidas. “¡Reverendísimo y querido padre superior! Me siento obligado a escribirle ahora, pocas horas antes de mi muerte, para saludarle. El pasado 2 de julio, fiesta del Sagrado Corazón, fui condenado a la decapitación como traidor contra la patria. La ejecución tendrá lugar esta tarde, a las 7.
Durante el tiempo de prisión, es decir, desde el 9 de noviembre del año pasado, he tenido tiempo para reflexionar largamente sobre mi vida. Le agradezco de corazón todo lo que ha hecho por mí el tiempo que lo he conocido. Me considero todavía miembro de la Sociedad de María: renuevo mis votos y me ofrezco a mí mismo al buen Dios a través de nuestra Madre del cielo. Le pido perdón por las molestias que haya podido ocasionar, fuesen las que fuesen. He pasado por momentos realmente difíciles, pero ahora soy plenamente feliz. Creo que todo esto me ha ocurrido para que pueda santificarme en este tiempo de pruebas. ¡Salude de mi parte a todos los hermanos! Yo saludaré a los que ya han pasado a la otra vida. Todo pasa, sólo el cielo permanece”.
Son escritos llenos de humanidad y de fe. También el mártir sufre, también pasa por momentos de oscuridad, de maduración. También siente, como todos, miedo al momento del sacrificio. Pero Dios da la fuerza para ser fieles, Dios no deja de acompañar a quien con amor da la vida por confesar su fe.
El testimonio del P. Jakob Gapp, beatificado por Juan Pablo II el 24 de noviembre de 1996, nos sirve para levantar una vez más los ojos al cielo y pensar en lo que realmente vale la pena. “Todo pasa, sólo el cielo permanece”.
es.catholic.net/santoral/articulo.php
Jacobo Gapp, Beato
Presbítero y Mártir
Martirologio Romano: En Berlín, en el lugar llamado Plötzensee, en Alemania, beato Jacobo Gapp, presbítero de la Compañía de María y mártir, que, con firmeza de ánimo, proclamó que los criminales proyectos de un régimen militar enemigo de la dignidad humana y cristiana estaban en total desacuerdo con la doctrina cristiana. Por ello, sometido a persecución, se dirigió a Francia y España en calidad de desterrado, pero, apresado por unos emisarios, murió finalmente decapitado (1943).
El P. Jakob Gapp fue condenado a muerte por defender la fe católica y por criticar las doctrinas del nazismo.
Había nacido en Wattens, Austria, el 26 de julio de 1897. Sintió la llamada de Dios cuando tenía 22 años, e ingresó en el noviciado de los marianistas. Recibió la ordenación sacerdotal cuando tenía 33 años. Pronto se vio envuelto en un ambiente de tensiones y de luchas políticas, debidas, sobre todo, al creciente influjo de las ideas hitlerianas. Tras estudiar a fondo el pensamiento del nacionalsocialismo, llegó a la conclusión de que era una doctrina intrínsecamente anticatólica. Decidió, desde entonces, oponerse con decisión a la misma.
El nacismo llegó a imponerse en Alemania y en Austria, por lo que la vida del P. Gapp corría grave peligro. Sus superiores decidieron que fuese a trabajar primero a Francia, y luego a España. En España se dedicó especialmente a la formación de los jóvenes, en medio de no pocas incomprensiones y críticas.
Pero la policía secreta de Hitler había decidido acabar con su vida. Por medio de un personaje misterioso, que se hizo pasar por un judío deseoso de convertirse, prepararon una trampa. El P. Jakob Gapp fue invitado por el falso amigo a hacer un paseo por el sur de Francia (ocupada por los alemanes), donde fue inmediatamente arrestado por la Gestapo. Era el mes de noviembre de 1942.
Gapp atravesó Francia para ser encarcelado en Berlín. Allí fue procesado como traidor. Se han conservado las actas de los interrogatorios, en los que el P. Gapp defendió con firmeza su fe católica y su deseo de mantenerla con coherencia, con amor, plenamente consciente de que podría perder su vida con su actitud de creyente convencido.
Fue condenado a muerte. La ejecución de la sentencia quedó fijada para el 13 de agosto de 1943. Era el día del aniversario de su ingreso al noviciado de los marianistas. Antes de morir, pudo escribir dos breves cartas, una a sus primos y otra a su superior. En ellas se descubre la sencillez, el valor y la fe propia de tantos mártires de ayer y de hoy, de tantos hombres y mujeres que ponen en Cristo toda su esperanza.
A sus primos les decía, entre otras cosas, lo siguiente: “Hoy será ejecutada la sentencia. A las 7 me presentaré a mi buen Salvador, a quien siempre amé ardientemente. No lloréis por mí. Soy plenamente feliz. Sin duda que he pasado muchas horas en la tristeza, pero he podido prepararme a la muerte del mejor modo posible. ¡Buscad vivir santamente y soportad cualquier cosa por amor de Dios, para que podamos reencontrarnos en el cielo! Saludad a todos, parientes y conocidos. En el paraíso me acordaré de todos”.
Y continúa un poco más adelante: “Después de haber luchado largo tiempo contra mí mismo he llegado a considerar este día como el más hermoso de mi vida. Dios os recompense por todo el bien que me habéis hecho desde mi niñez. ¡Seppl, querido Seppl, cuántas veces te he recordado! No estés triste. Todo pasa, sólo el cielo permanece. Nos encontraremos de nuevo. Entonces no habrá ninguna separación. ¡Avisa de mi muerte a los más íntimos! He sido condenado como traidor a la patria”.
En la carta que dirige a su superior, escrita ese mismo día, expresa ideas parecidas. “¡Reverendísimo y querido padre superior! Me siento obligado a escribirle ahora, pocas horas antes de mi muerte, para saludarle. El pasado 2 de julio, fiesta del Sagrado Corazón, fui condenado a la decapitación como traidor contra la patria. La ejecución tendrá lugar esta tarde, a las 7.
Durante el tiempo de prisión, es decir, desde el 9 de noviembre del año pasado, he tenido tiempo para reflexionar largamente sobre mi vida. Le agradezco de corazón todo lo que ha hecho por mí el tiempo que lo he conocido. Me considero todavía miembro de la Sociedad de María: renuevo mis votos y me ofrezco a mí mismo al buen Dios a través de nuestra Madre del cielo. Le pido perdón por las molestias que haya podido ocasionar, fuesen las que fuesen. He pasado por momentos realmente difíciles, pero ahora soy plenamente feliz. Creo que todo esto me ha ocurrido para que pueda santificarme en este tiempo de pruebas. ¡Salude de mi parte a todos los hermanos! Yo saludaré a los que ya han pasado a la otra vida. Todo pasa, sólo el cielo permanece”.
Son escritos llenos de humanidad y de fe. También el mártir sufre, también pasa por momentos de oscuridad, de maduración. También siente, como todos, miedo al momento del sacrificio. Pero Dios da la fuerza para ser fieles, Dios no deja de acompañar a quien con amor da la vida por confesar su fe.
El testimonio del P. Jakob Gapp, beatificado por Juan Pablo II el 24 de noviembre de 1996, nos sirve para levantar una vez más los ojos al cielo y pensar en lo que realmente vale la pena. “Todo pasa, sólo el cielo permanece”.
One more comment from Irapuato
Jakob Gapp, after serving as a soldier in World War I, entered the
Society of Mary (Marianists), and became a teacher. Later he was
ordained to the priesthood. While stationed at Graz, Austria, 1934-1938,
he made a careful study of the ideology of the growing Nazi movement,
comparing its literature with the teachings of the Church, especially
Pope Pius XI's brave encyclical against Nazism, Mit …More
Jakob Gapp, after serving as a soldier in World War I, entered the
Society of Mary (Marianists), and became a teacher. Later he was
ordained to the priesthood. While stationed at Graz, Austria, 1934-1938,
he made a careful study of the ideology of the growing Nazi movement,
comparing its literature with the teachings of the Church, especially
Pope Pius XI's brave encyclical against Nazism, Mit brennender Sorge.
He became convinced that National Socialism was "abhorrent and
totally irreconcilable with the Catholic faith." After the Nazi takeover of
Austria in 1938, he experienced the grief of seeing even his own school
put up pictures of Hitler in the classrooms. Required by his superior to
wear a Swastika badge and greet people in public with a "Heil Hitler,"
he conscientiously refused. He felt it his duty to continue in the
schoolroom and in his sermons to denounce Nazism as anti-
Christian. When a fellow teacher was reported as telling the children
they should "hate and kill Czechs and Jews," he considered himself
duty-bound to refute him in his own class.
One day he reminded his pupils that since the French, Jews and
Communists were all human beings, so the Christian is bound to
love them. "God is your god," he added, "not Adolf Hitler." For those
statements he was summarily suspended as a teacher. By now
Fr. Gapp was attracting animosity and his safety could no longer be
assured. In 1939 he went in exile to the SM mother house in
Bordeaux, France. Not long afterward he went still farther away, to
San Sebastian, Spain.
In 1942 he went to the British consulate in Valencia, hoping to get a visa to England. Although he got no visa, he did borrow some British
newspapers that might tell him, as the censored German papers never did, just what was going on within the German Reich. Discounting
the propaganda in this literature, he finally learned something about the current persecution in Germany, and its prison camps, and the
international criticism of Nazi atrocities.
Once in Spain two men who claimed to be Jews asked him to instruct them in the Catholic Faith so that they might be baptized. Fr. Gapp
consented. On a certain day in November 1942, the two "Jewish" students took him on a picnic near the French border. He never returned
home, for the two phony Jewish pupils spirited him across into France where Gestapo agents were waiting to whisk him off to Berlin.
In a complex covert operation, he was arrested by the pro-Nazi Vichy government in France, interrogated briefly, and transferred to a
prison in Berlin. The Gestapo decided not to send him to Dachau, their camp of choice for arrested priests. He was a dangerous prisoner
who needed “special protective custody.” Later, a People’s Court trial that lasted less than two hours sentenced him to death commenting:
“He will forever be without honor.”
The evening of Aug. 13, 1943, 13 years to the day that Gapp had joined the Marianists, he wrote a letter to his superior, concluding, “today
I hope to begin the life of eternal happiness.” Then, he went calmly to the execution shed of the Plötzensee prison and was beheaded,
earning, not Nazi honor, but eternal honor.
Thanks to the care with which this police agency kept its records, Fr. Gapp's replies to his interrogators have all been preserved.
He explained calmly that Nazi doctrine was entirely unacceptable to a Catholic. As a Catholic priest, therefore, it was his duty to put God
before Caesar and denounce Nazism every step of the way.
One of his interrogators (who is still alive) says that Heinrich Himmler, head of the Gestapo, insisted on reading transcripts of all that the
Marianist priest said. Himmler eventually observed to one of the judges, that if the million Nazi party members were as committed to
Nazism as Father Gapp was to Catholicism, Germany would be winning the war without difficulty.
On the basis of his visits to the British consulate, however, the court that tried Gapp condemned him to death for treason. Jakob Gapp
was beheaded by guillotine at Berlin on August 13, 1943. The police would not release his body, fearing that Catholics would make a
martyr of him. Ironically, the Gestapo itself did that in saving his records.
One of Gapp’s students remembered him as teaching that, even more broadly, the law of Christ demanded that “one must selflessly
assist anyone, even one’s ideological opponent, if he is in existential trouble or difficulty.” Father Gapp practiced what he preached.
In addition to standing up for despised groups, he deprived himself of necessities like fuel for heating in winter in order to help the
poor. Gapp knew that people who approached him for moral advice or formal instruction might be Nazi agents, but decided early on
that his status as a priest demanded he tell the truth whatever the consequences. He was beatified in 1995.
We can only be thrilled by the behavior of martyrs like these. But must we not further ask: how would we have acted if we were they?
www.marianist.org/site.php
Society of Mary (Marianists), and became a teacher. Later he was
ordained to the priesthood. While stationed at Graz, Austria, 1934-1938,
he made a careful study of the ideology of the growing Nazi movement,
comparing its literature with the teachings of the Church, especially
Pope Pius XI's brave encyclical against Nazism, Mit brennender Sorge.
He became convinced that National Socialism was "abhorrent and
totally irreconcilable with the Catholic faith." After the Nazi takeover of
Austria in 1938, he experienced the grief of seeing even his own school
put up pictures of Hitler in the classrooms. Required by his superior to
wear a Swastika badge and greet people in public with a "Heil Hitler,"
he conscientiously refused. He felt it his duty to continue in the
schoolroom and in his sermons to denounce Nazism as anti-
Christian. When a fellow teacher was reported as telling the children
they should "hate and kill Czechs and Jews," he considered himself
duty-bound to refute him in his own class.
One day he reminded his pupils that since the French, Jews and
Communists were all human beings, so the Christian is bound to
love them. "God is your god," he added, "not Adolf Hitler." For those
statements he was summarily suspended as a teacher. By now
Fr. Gapp was attracting animosity and his safety could no longer be
assured. In 1939 he went in exile to the SM mother house in
Bordeaux, France. Not long afterward he went still farther away, to
San Sebastian, Spain.
In 1942 he went to the British consulate in Valencia, hoping to get a visa to England. Although he got no visa, he did borrow some British
newspapers that might tell him, as the censored German papers never did, just what was going on within the German Reich. Discounting
the propaganda in this literature, he finally learned something about the current persecution in Germany, and its prison camps, and the
international criticism of Nazi atrocities.
Once in Spain two men who claimed to be Jews asked him to instruct them in the Catholic Faith so that they might be baptized. Fr. Gapp
consented. On a certain day in November 1942, the two "Jewish" students took him on a picnic near the French border. He never returned
home, for the two phony Jewish pupils spirited him across into France where Gestapo agents were waiting to whisk him off to Berlin.
In a complex covert operation, he was arrested by the pro-Nazi Vichy government in France, interrogated briefly, and transferred to a
prison in Berlin. The Gestapo decided not to send him to Dachau, their camp of choice for arrested priests. He was a dangerous prisoner
who needed “special protective custody.” Later, a People’s Court trial that lasted less than two hours sentenced him to death commenting:
“He will forever be without honor.”
The evening of Aug. 13, 1943, 13 years to the day that Gapp had joined the Marianists, he wrote a letter to his superior, concluding, “today
I hope to begin the life of eternal happiness.” Then, he went calmly to the execution shed of the Plötzensee prison and was beheaded,
earning, not Nazi honor, but eternal honor.
Thanks to the care with which this police agency kept its records, Fr. Gapp's replies to his interrogators have all been preserved.
He explained calmly that Nazi doctrine was entirely unacceptable to a Catholic. As a Catholic priest, therefore, it was his duty to put God
before Caesar and denounce Nazism every step of the way.
One of his interrogators (who is still alive) says that Heinrich Himmler, head of the Gestapo, insisted on reading transcripts of all that the
Marianist priest said. Himmler eventually observed to one of the judges, that if the million Nazi party members were as committed to
Nazism as Father Gapp was to Catholicism, Germany would be winning the war without difficulty.
On the basis of his visits to the British consulate, however, the court that tried Gapp condemned him to death for treason. Jakob Gapp
was beheaded by guillotine at Berlin on August 13, 1943. The police would not release his body, fearing that Catholics would make a
martyr of him. Ironically, the Gestapo itself did that in saving his records.
One of Gapp’s students remembered him as teaching that, even more broadly, the law of Christ demanded that “one must selflessly
assist anyone, even one’s ideological opponent, if he is in existential trouble or difficulty.” Father Gapp practiced what he preached.
In addition to standing up for despised groups, he deprived himself of necessities like fuel for heating in winter in order to help the
poor. Gapp knew that people who approached him for moral advice or formal instruction might be Nazi agents, but decided early on
that his status as a priest demanded he tell the truth whatever the consequences. He was beatified in 1995.
We can only be thrilled by the behavior of martyrs like these. But must we not further ask: how would we have acted if we were they?
www.marianist.org/site.php