Blessed Engelmar Unzeitig

Life story

Hubert Unzeitig was born on 1 March 1911 in Greifendorf, Moravia, then part of Austria-Hungary. He joined the Mariannhill Missionaries, taking the name Engelmar, and made his final profession in May 1938. He was ordained a priest on 6 August 1939, a month before the Second World War began.

From 1940 he was parish priest of Glöckelberg, now Zadní Zvonková in the Czech Republic. On 21 April 1941 the Gestapo arrested him for defending Jews in his sermons, and in June 1941 he was sent to Dachau concentration camp without a trial.

In late 1944 typhus broke out in Dachau. He and some other priests volunteered to enter the infected barracks and care for the sick. He caught the disease and died on 2 March 1945, aged 34. Fellow prisoners called him the Angel of Dachau.

Pope Benedict XVI declared him Venerable on 3 July 2009. Pope Francis recognised that he died for the faith on 21 January 2016, and he was beatified on 24 September 2016 at Würzburg, with Cardinal Angelo Amato presiding on the pope's behalf. He has not been canonised; his feast is 2 March.

Works and witness

• Joined the Mariannhill Missionaries and was ordained in 1939
• Parish priest of Glöckelberg from 1940
• Arrested by the Gestapo on 21 April 1941 and sent to Dachau
• Volunteered to nurse typhus patients in late 1944
• Beatified on 24 September 2016 in Würzburg

Saints from the same country

Saint Wenceslaus, Saint John Neumann, Saint Adalbert of Prague, Saint John of Nepomuk

References

• Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood, Beatification of Fr. Engelmar Unzeitig, CMM
• Wikipedia, Engelmar Unzeitig (birth, ordination, arrest and beatification details)

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.