The Servant of God Franz Stock (21 September 1904,

Neheim Arnsberg (; wep, Arensperg) is a town in the Hochsauerland county, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the location of the Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg administration and one of the three local administration offices of the Hochs ...

– 24 February 1948,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

. He is known for ministering to prisoners in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and to German prisoners of war in the years following. The cause for his canonization has been accepted by the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

Early life

Stock was born the first of nine children of a worker family in the village of Neheim-Hüsten (now part of

Arnsberg Arnsberg (; wep, Arensperg) is a town in the Hochsauerland county, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the location of the Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg administration and one of the three local administration offices of the Hoch ...

), in the Province of Westphalia of the German Empire. From 1910 to 1913, he attended a Catholic elementary school. At the age of twelve Franz expressed a wish to become a priest. In 1926, he participated in an international peace meeting in Bierville near Paris, which was organized by

Marc Sangnier Marc Sangnier (; 3 April 1873, Paris – 28 May 1950, Paris) was a French Roman Catholic thinker and politician, who in 1894 founded '' Le Sillon'' ("The Furrow"), a social Catholic movement. Work Sangnier aimed to bring the Catholic Church i ...

under the motto "Peace via the young!" There Franz became friends with Joseph Folliet (1902–1973), who grew up to become a noted Catholic writer and who greatly influenced him. That same year, he entered the Catholic

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

. In the spring of 1928, Stock went to

, France, where he spent three semesters studying at the Institut Catholique. During this period, he became a member of the ''Compagnons du saint François'' (Companions of St. Francis), a fellowship committed to living a simple life and working for peace. He was the first German student of theology in France since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. Stock was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

to the subdiaconate on 15 March 1931. He was then ordained to the priesthood on 12 March 1932 by the Archbishop of Paderborn, Kaspar Klein, and from 1932 to 1934 had his first appointment as priest in Effeln, near Lippstadt, and in Dortmund-Eving. In 1934, he was appointed as

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the German

national parish National parish is a type of Catholic parish distinguished by liturgical rites or nationality of the congregation; it is found within a diocese or particular Church, which includes other types of parishes in the same geographical area, each parish ...

of St. Boniface in Paris.

World War II

A few days before the outbreak of

on 1 September 1939, he returned to Germany, where he officiated as a priest in Dortmund-Bodelschwingh and in Klein-Wanzleben in central Germany. On 13 August 1940, he was named as priest for Germans residing in Paris during Nazi Germany's occupation of France, and returned in October 1940 to Paris. In 1941, he started to work as a chaplain in the

Fresnes Prison Fresnes Prison (''French Centre pénitentiaire de Fresnes'') is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne, south of Paris. It comprises a large men's prison (''maison d'arrêt'') of about 1200 cells, a small ...

La Santé Prison La Santé Prison (named after its location on the Rue de la Santé) (french: Maison d'arrêt de la Santé or ) is a prison operated by the French Prison Service of the Ministry of Justice located in the east of the Montparnasse district of the ...

and

Cherche-Midi Prison The Cherche-Midi prison was a French military prison located in Paris, France. It housed military prisoners between 1851 and 1947. Construction on the prison began in 1847, when the former convent of the Daughters of the Good Shepherd was demolish ...

in Paris. He was also a chaplain at the execution site at the

Mont Valérien Mont may refer to: Places * Mont., an abbreviation for Montana, a U.S. state * Mont, Belgium (disambiguation), several places in Belgium * Mont, Hautes-Pyrénées, a commune in France * Mont, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a commune in France * Mont, ...

during the German occupation of France in World War II, owing him his nickname ''L'Aumônier de l'Enfer'' (The chaplain of Hell) and ''L'archange des prisons'' (The archangel of the prisons). Often, because of his German nationality, he was the only priest who could freely visit the prisoners without being a part of the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

war apparatus. He then met with more than 2,000 prisoners, including the French Navy officer

Henri Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves Henri Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves (, 3 June 1901 – 29 August 1941) was a French Navy officer and one of the major heroes of the French Resistance, said to be the "first martyr of Free France". Early life He was born in Verrières-le-Buisson ...

, the Communist

Gabriel Péri Gabriel Péri (Peri) (9 February 1902 — 15 December 1941) was a prominent French Communist journalist and politician, and member of the French Resistance. He was executed in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Early life Péri was ...

and the

Gaullist Gaullism (french: link=no, Gaullisme) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic. De Gaulle with ...

Edmond Michelet Edmond Michelet (8 October 1899 – 9 October 1970) was a French politician. He is the father of the writer Claude Michelet. On 17 June 1940, he distributed tracts calling to continue the war in all Brive-la-Gaillarde's mailboxes. It is consid ...

.L'émouvante fresque du Séminaire des barbelés
, '' Pèlerin'', 17 June 2004 As part of his pastoral mission, and with great peril to his life, he passed messages from the prisoners to their families and back, sometimes memorizing them. Exploiting every possible avenue to help the prisoners, he delivered German information on them to their families, so as to prepare them when interrogated. The information thus delivered prevented many arrests. This he did under a double threat to his life: besides the obvious peril of arrest, incarceration and/or execution if discovered, Stock suffered severe heart disease (a fact he kept from others) and thus had been ordered to rest. Nevertheless, he went on in his endeavor. On 10 June 1941, he was officially acknowledged as military chaplain with the rank of non-commissioned officer. At the time of the liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944, Stock was in the

Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital (french: Hôpital universitaire la Pitié-Salpêtrière, ) is a teaching hospital in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Part of the and a teaching hospital of Sorbonne University. History The Salpêtri� ...

, where more than 600 wounded German soldiers together with 200 British and American soldiers were lying, unfit for transport. When the Americans took command of the hospital, Stock became a prisoner of war of the Americans, and was sent to the POW camp of Cherbourg. This he accepted willingly, for it enabled him to help those who now needed most his services – the defeated German POWs. The '' Aumônerie Générale'' in Paris, planning to set up a seminary for captured German Catholic students of theology at the POW Camp Depot 51 at

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Abbé Le Meur accompanied him to Orléans, where already twenty-eight theology students awaited them. On 17 August 1945, the "barbed-wire seminary", the ''séminaire des barbelés'', was transferred from Orléans to Camp 501 at

Le Coudray Le Coudray () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Eure-et-Loir department The following is a list of the 365 communes of the Eure-et-Loir department of France. The communes ...

, near Chartres. On 19 August 1945, Raoul-Octove-Marie-Jean Harscouët,

Bishop of Chartres The oldest known list of bishops of Chartres is found in an 11th-century manuscript of Trinity Abbey, Vendôme. It includes 57 names from Adventus (Saint Aventin) to Aguiertus (Agobert) who died in 1060. The most well-known list is included in the ...

, accompanied by his secretary Abbé Pierre André, visited the POW seminary. Later, he visited the camp repeatedly and addressed the seminarians, always calling them "''Mes chers enfants'' (My dear children). On 18 September 1945, Nuncio Roncalli (future

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

), came for a longer visit at the camp and returned on 16 July 1946, declaring:

Post-war and death

From 1945 till 1947, Stock was managing director of the prisoner of war ''séminaire des barbelés'' of Chartres. On 14 May 1947, Cardinal Suhard of Paris visited the seminary, which was closed on 5 June 1947. While 949 lecturers, priests, brothers and seminarists had been at the seminary. When it was closed, only 369 were still there. On 16 December 1947, Stock received notification about his appointment as honorary doctor of the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...

, in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. He died unexpectedly on 24 February 1948 at the

Hôpital Cochin The Hôpital Cochin is a hospital of public assistance in the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Jacques Paris 14e. It houses the central burn treatment centre of the city. The Hôpital Cochin is a section of the Faculté de Médecine Paris-Descartes. It comm ...

in Paris. Since he was still considered a POW, very few people were made aware of his death at the time. His funeral was held four days later, at the

Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas Saint-Jacques du Haut-Pas () is a Roman Catholic parish church in Paris, France. The cathedral is located at the corner of Rue Saint-Jacques and Rue de l'Abbé de l'Épée in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. The church has been registered as a his ...

church in Paris, with Nuncio Roncalli officiating. Only about 12 people accompanied his body to the cemetery of Thiais in Paris.

Legacy

On 15/16 June 1963 his body was transferred to the newly built Church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Chartres. On 18 November 1981, in Fulda, during his visit to Germany,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

mentioned the name of Franz Stock along with the names of great saints of German history. The esplanade in front of the

Mémorial de la France combattante The Mémorial de la France combattante (Memorial to Fighting France) is the most important memorial to French fighters of World War II (1939–1945). It is situated below Fort Mont-Valérien in Suresnes, in the western suburbs of Paris. It commem ...

has been named the ''Place Abbé Franz Stock'' in memory of the care he gave to the condemned prisoners while they were held in Fort Mont Valérien. On 1 March 1998, the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of his death was held in the

Chartres Cathedral Chartres Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres), is a Roman Catholic church in Chartres, France, about southwest of Paris, and is the seat of the Bishop of Chartres. Mostly con ...

. The archbishop of Paris, Cardinal

Jean-Marie Lustiger Aron Jean-Marie Lustiger (; 17 September 1926 – 5 August 2007) was a French cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Paris from 1981 until his resignation in 2005. He was made a cardinal in 1983 by Pope John Paul II. His life ...

, celebrated

Pontifical High Mass A Pontifical High Mass, also called Solemn Pontifical Mass, is a Solemn or High Mass celebrated by a bishop using certain prescribed ceremonies. Although in modern English the word "pontifical" is almost exclusively associated with the pope, an ...

in the presence of many French and German bishops, and of

René Monory René Monory (6 June 1923 – 11 April 2009) was a French centre-right Gaullist politician. Biography René Monory was born in Loudun and began his career as the owner of a garage. He was the founder of the Poitiers Futuroscope. Monory firs ...

, President of the

French Senate The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' a ...

and of

Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...

, Chancellor of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

, who, beforehand, had laid down a wreath on Stock's grave.Information des Elysee

/ref>

Cause for canonization

There is an ongoing effort to have Franz Stock declared to be a saint. One miracle, usually a permanent and total medically unexplainable cure clearly and directly attributable to his intercession (as judged by a panel of neutral doctors and medical esperts, and by another panel of lay and clerical philosophers and theologians, who give their opinion to the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pass ...

, to be further considered, and forwarded to the Pope), is needed for him to be beatified, and a subsequent second such miracle for his canonization as a Saint. Before he can be beatified, the Church must declare that he lived a holy and virtuous life (a Servant of God), and that he lived it heroically and publicly in a manner worthy of respect and universal veneration (be

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cat ...

Commencement of the process

On 14 November 2009 the proceedings for Stock's

beatification Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

were opened in the Church St. John the Baptist in Arnsberg-Neheim, his birthplace. He was baptized in this church and celebrated his first

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

there. Many members of the congregation and many of his former companions took part in the service. The ceremony was presided over by the current archbishop of Paderborn, Hans-Joseph Becker. With this step, Stock could be referred to as a Servant of God within the Catholic Church.

Quotes

*"Abbé Franz Stock – that is no name, it is a program!" Nuncio Angelo Roncalli, who became later

, said this on 28 February 1948, when carrying out the blessing of the deceased priest. In July 1962, he repeated these words in front of an international pilgrim group. *Joseph Folliet said about him:

References

External links

Abbé Franz Stock -english - Start
at www.franz-stock.org * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stock, Franz 1904 births 1948 deaths People from Arnsberg People from the Province of Westphalia People of Vichy France German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States German Servants of God 20th-century German Roman Catholic priests