BLESSED GEORG HAFNER

George Hafner was born on 19 October 1900 in Wurzburg, Bavaria.  His parents, Valentin and Barbara Hewig Ulsamer, were simple, humble and believing Christians who brought up George with a good education and a deep faith.  He was baptized on 28 October 1900 and given the names Joseph George Simon.

From early childhood, George manifested a strong inclination towards the priesthood. He excelled as an altar boy at serving Mass and often entertained his companions by playing at imitating a priest celebrating Mass.  His parents made many sacrifices so that George could complete his early studies. In 1918 he completed his secondary studies and, due to the First World War, was called up for army service. He never had to engage in any military activity. With a view to preparation for the priesthood, he began Philosophy and Theology in Wurzburg University and on 11 January 1920 he also joined the Carmelite Secular Order, taking the name Brother Aloysius of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Having obtained a doctorate in Theology, George was ordained a priest in the Seminary chapel of St. Michael, Wurzburg, by the Archbishop of Bamberga, Mons. Jacob von Hauck, on 13 April 1924.  He was engaged in Pastoral ministry in different parishes until 12 November 1934, when he was nominated as Parish Priest of Oberschwarzach.  Here he distinguished himself for his firm faith, extraordinary zeal and outstanding charity.

The Venerable Servant of God fulfilled all his priestly duties with great humility, in constant silence and prayer.  His only desire was to encourage his faithful to be aware of their duties and to observe  their religious practices.

Due to his fruitful pastoral activity, including religious education in the state schools, the Parish Priest of Oberschwarzach came to be seen as an enemy of the Nationalist-Socialist regime, due to his propagating 0f Christian principles which were considered as being opposed to the State.  As his enemies could not find any valid accusation against him they resorted to a treacherous plot.  During the funeral of a forest guard, they took the opportunity of denouncing him to the Gestapo.  At that funeral service, Don Georg revealed that the deceased had been reconciled to the Catholic Church before his death.  As a result, a second marriage of his, contracted in a civil rite, was invalid. 

On 31 October 1941, the Servant of God was unjustly arrested, interrogated and incarcerated in Wurzburg prison with an accusation of “hostile behaviour towards the State”. Being condemned as a political prisoner, Don Georg was deported by the Nazi authorities to the concentration camp of Dachau, on December 1941.  During his imprisonment, he never ceased to preach the truthful tenets of the Christian faith, while staunchly enduring all his physical and moral sufferings.  He carried the cross, accepting the will of God in every situation.  He died of neglect the 20 August 1942.

His Beatification ceremony took place in Wurzburg on 15 May 2011.

Juan de Palfox y Mendoza was born in Fitero (Navarre), Spain, on June 24, 1600, and was baptized on June 29, the feast of St. Peter, to whom he was always to have a special devotion.

In 1610 for his education he was entrusted to the care of the Bishop of Tarazona Don Diego de Yepes, and for five years he attended the College of the Society of Jesus in the city of Tarazona, from where he then passed to the Universities of Huesca, Alcalá and Salamanca. After finishing his studies, in 1621 he returned to Ariza, where he ruled the states of his father the Marquis and had the opportunity to read and deepen in many other authors and texts.

Through the interest of the Count-Duke of Olivares he was offered posts and honours in the Madrid of Philip IV, first in the Council of War in 1626, and from 1629, in that of the Indies, distinguishing himself in a noteworthy manner for his prudence and intelligence in his interventions in both.

In 1629 a decisive event took place in his life, in that after a year of intense preparation, in prayer and penance, he received priestly ordination on 15^th of April. Shortly after his ordination, the King gave him the mission of accompanying, as chaplain and almoner, his sister Maria, who had become the wife of the King of Hungary, the future Emperor. It was during this journey of over a year to Europe that his mystical encounter with the Humanity of Christ took place through a Crucifix, with its arms and legs broken by heretics. He felt that the Crucifix asked him not to leave it abandoned there; he took it with him, had it restored, and it was his traveling companion for the rest of his life..

In 1639, after appropriate consultations, Don Juan de Palafox was appointed to the episcopal see of Puebla de los Ángeles, with the addition of other important positions of government in New Spain, such as that of Visitator. He left for the Indies in 1640 and remained there until 1649, carrying out important assignments in the service of the monarchy and the Church, not without sorrows and misunderstandings on the part of those who refused to submit to the directives of ecclesiastical discipline and to the order established by the laws of the monarchy. In those lands Blessed Palafox is still remembered as the great reformer, the tireless pastor of souls, the protector of the dispossessed and the natives, and also as the builder of the cathedral and numerous other buildings, and the founder of the Palafox Library, consisting of several thousand volumes that he donated from his private library brought from Spain..

As a prelate, he distinguished himself for his pastoral and educational attention, creating the Colleges of St. Peter and St. Paul for the formation of seminarians, erecting in them and endowing chairs of indigenous languages, without the knowledge of which he would not ordain priests. The construction of the cathedral, parish churches and other foundations were always at the centre of his attention, as well as the instruction of the faithful people in the doctrine of the faith, through the catechesis that he himself imparted in his visits.

As a good canonist and zealous pastor, he was particularly concerned to apply strictly the norms promulgated by the Council of Trent, concerning ecclesiastical discipline, Eucharistic worship, and that of Mary and of the saints, the dignity of the liturgy and song, and, above all, those concerning one of his most constant concerns, the formation of the clergy..

Bishop Palafox had to return to Spain, by order of the king, following the problems that arose around his interventions as a reformer, but he continued governing the diocese, by means of his vicars and pastoral letters until 1654, in which year he was transferred to the see of Osma, where he continued exercising his pastoral zeal until his holy death, which took place in the episcopal palace of that city on October 1^st, 1659.

The beatification ceremony took place on June the 5^th, 2011.