Franz Jagerstatter was born in 1907 to the unmarried maidservant, Rosalie Huber in the village of St. Radegund,  Austria. His father was Franz Bachmeier of Tarsdorf in the province of Salzburg.  His natural father was drafted into the German Army as a soldier in World War I and was killed in 1917.  His mother married soon after to Heinrich Jagerstatter and Franz took the name of his step father--Jagerstatter.

 Franz did not do well in school until after the marriage of his mother and adoption by Heinrich Jagerstatter. He became a good student but as a teen and in his twenties, he developed a reputation as a hell raiser, a fellow who was girl crazy, got into fights with villagers from neighboring areas and had the first motorcycle in his village of St Radegun.

 When he met the woman who would become his wife, he had a dramatic change. Franz began to attend daily mass, and when he and Franziska married, they motorcycled all the way to Rome on their honeymoon. In Rome, they had an audience with the Pope--a very unique happening for village Austrians.

 When the National Socialist Party of neighboring Germany began to gain strength,  Franz spoke out against the  NAZIs.  In 1938, Hitler annexed Austria to Germany. A vote took place to confirm the power grab of the Nazis. Franz would have no part of the vote--except to announce publicly that his vote would be no. Everyone else, out of fear or admiration of the NAZIS, voted yes. Franz became a marked man.

 However, in 1940, Franz answered the call to duty. He put on the uniform of the German Third Reich and served six months in a motor cycle company. When he was released to go back to farm—(the NAZIS began to understand the importance of food to their conquests)--he vowed to never again train to kill. He said that his faith in the nonviolence of Jesus Christ taught him to never kill another human being. He would farm, but would refuse any assistance from the immoral war hungry Nazis.

 In 1940, Franz Jagerstatter was called back to service with the German Army. He reported to duty but said he would not serve. His religion did not allow for the killing of fellow human beings.

 Franz was put under house arrest. Transported to Linz and later to Berlin, a military trial found him guilty of treason. He was beheaded on August 6, 1943.

 In the summer of 2007, Pope Benedict announced beatification of Franz Jagerstatter. On October 26, 2007 in the Cathedral of Linz, before over 5000 lay people--including a huge gathering of bishops and cardinals-- the martyr for nonviolence, Franz Jagerstatter, with his widow, Fraziska in the cathedral gathering, was beatified as Blessed Franz Jagerstatter.

 A new dimension for peacemakers? A turn around of the Roman Catholic Church that for centuries has praised rulers over peacemakers?

 We may be entering a bright era. Praise Blessed Franz.

---  By Jack Gilroy