Congregazione dei Missionari di Mariannhill Curia Generalizia Via S. Giovanni Eudes, 91 00163 ROMA Italia Tel: 0039-06.6650.1300 Fax: 0039-06.6641.4128 E-mail: cmmroma(a),mariannhill.org - www.cmmmariannhill.org Father Engelmar Unzeitig, Martyr Most of us will remember the following scene: "Annuncio vobis gaudium magnum" I announce to you a great joy: We have a Pope ... and then after a little pause: "and his name is..." when the election of a Pope is announced to the whole world. I am aware that all comparisons fall short, but this is the way I feel today! I am full of joy and need to announce it loud, make it heard by every member of our Congregation, by the whole Church and by the world at large: Rejoice, for on the 21^^ January 2016 Pope Francis has declared that Father Engelmar Unzeitig, a member of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill, is a martyr! Therefore, shortly, on a date still to be finalized, we shall be able to celebrate his beatification. We will communicate the details as soon as they are available. When Father Engelmar died in 1945 he was just 34 years old and a priest for six years. Four of those six years he spent in the Concentration Camp of Dachau. On 21 April 1941 he was arrested by the Gestapo (Nazi secret police) and six weeks later he was confined to the Concentration Camp. Soon after, on 11 January 1942, he wrote in a letter: "I hope to be able to make here a little contribution in bringing the world home into the Father's house". This, for me, is not merely an expression of a burning missionary heart, but a manifestation of an intentional and purposeful union with Jesus Christ who said about himself to Nicodemus "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life". (John 3. 16). Under the inhuman conditions of the concentration camp Father Engelmar went about his daily chores with incredible equanimity and at the same time constantly looked out for any opportunity to help and support his fellow prisoners. He secretly learned Russian to be there for Russian prisoners of war and shared portions of his small food ration with others who have needed it more... and so it was no surprise to the others that he was one of the first ones to volunteer to move into the infected barracks where hundreds died of untreated typhus and where also Father Engelmar eventually died. And now Pope Francis has officially stated that our confrere died as a martyr. Kurt Koch says: "Christian martyrdom is not only life from the mystery of the Eucharist but also and above all a willingness to be existentially integrated into the mystery itself and from this sacrificial death arises new life". And this, says Koch, is the message of the martyrs who became totally part of the Eucharistic Mystery.^ And I believe that this is also the message of Father Engelmar and his gift to us: On the basis and on the strength of his perpetual vows he followed Jesus Christ obediently and trustfully becoming one with Christ and his mission, fulfilling in everything and always the Father's plan "who so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life". In this way Father Engelmar lived his four years in the concentration camp as a true missionary, a true son of Abbot Francis who knew no limits in his burning desire to bring the whole world back into God's house, into God's Kingdom that according to him knew no boundaries. But our confrere. Father Engelmar, adds a new and profound element, the spirit of littleness we see in the life of St. Therese, the patroness of the Missions, - the unassuming power of the little and faithful YES, knowing and believing that all is grace and that nothing and no place is unimportant for God and his desire to save all. Father Engelmar, dear and wonderful confrere, pray for and with us that we all may have the courage to follow you and so live and work for the Kingdom of God, fulfilling the Father's plan together and in Jesus Christ! Rome 22 January 2016 ' Cardinal Kurt Koch in a lecture on the persecution of Christians held on 17.11.2015 in Schwabisch Gmiind, Germany .