Clemens August Graf von Galen

Who was Clemens August Graf von Galen?

The Blessed Clemens August Graf von Galen was a German count, Bishop of Münster, and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. A German nationalist and aristocrat, he became an important figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism. During World War Two, Galen led Catholic protest against Nazi euthanasia and denounced Gestapo lawlessness and the persecution of the church. He was appointed as Cardinal by Pope Pius XII in 1946. He was beatified by the German Pope Benedict XVI, in 2005.

Born into a venerable noble family, von Galen received part of his education in Austria from the Jesuits at the Stella Matutina School in the border town of Feldkirch, on the Austrian border with Switzerland and Liechtenstein. After his ordination he worked in Berlin at Saint Matthias, where he became a close friend of Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, later to be Pope Pius XII. He disliked intensely the liberal values of the Weimar Republic and was against individualism, socialism, and democracy. Having served in Berlin parishes in years 1906–1929, he became the pastor of Münster's St. Lamberti Church, where he was noted for his political conservatism.