Three Italian priests murdered by the Nazis during World War II were beatified as martyrs on Sunday. Source: Crux Now.
Fathers Ubaldo Marchioni, Elia Comini and Martino Capelli were beatified at the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna, with the Mass presided over by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.
The three men were killed during the Monte Sole massacre, perpetrated by the Nazis which left 770 dead between September 29 and October 5, 1944, as the Germans tried to kill local partisans.
The beatified, who now have the title of “blessed”, had the chance to save themselves, but decided to stay behind to serve the faithful.
“The secret of the martyrs is not heroism, but love that is given completely,” Cardinal Semeraro said. “The death of the martyrs may seem like a plant without fruit or flower; however, that very emptiness became the place where God made charity flourish.”
“Just as Christ held nothing back for himself, so too did Fr Ubaldo, Fr Elia, and Fr Martino hold nothing back, not even their own lives,” he added.
Even though the three men had the opportunity to save themselves, they stayed and “freely renounced their own safety to fully share in the fate of the brothers entrusted to them. Brothers and sisters, here the beauty of their holiness is revealed”.
“It was precisely this disposition that prepared them to accept martyrdom when hatred against the faith assailed them. Distinct but intimately united, oblatio vitae (the offering of life) and martyrdom illuminate each other in the evangelical logic of the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep,” Cardinal Semeraro explained.
Fr Marchioni was born in 1918 and after ordination became parish priest of San Martino di Caprara in May 1944. He was murdered on September 29 while trying to help faithful who had taken refuge from a Nazi raid in the church of Casaglia.
Fr Comini was born in 1910, and Fr Capelli in 1912, and the two were shot together on October 1, 1944, as they tried to help people in Creda.
Decades later, Fr Marchioni’s father, Augusto Marchioni, forgave the man responsible for his son’s death, a SS major named Walter Reder.
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Three Italian priests killed by Nazis beatified in Bologna (Crux Now)
