Bernhard Lichtenberg and Karl Leisner

Bernhard Lichtenberg opposed extremist ideologies very early on. As early as 1931, he was attacked by Goebbels' Nazi newspaper for supporting a pacifist film. After the Night of Broken Glass in 1938, he publicly declared: "The Temple is on fire outside – and it is also a house of God," and prayed every evening for the persecuted Jews. In 1941, he vigorously protested against the Aktion T4 euthanasia program to Leonardo Conti. Karl Leisner dedicated himself to the education of youth to shield them from Hitlerian indoctrination, organizing camps and hikes. Influenced by the Schoenstatt movement, he offered himself to the Virgin Mary in 1933. At Dachau, he became the "angel of comfort" for his fellow prisoners. On December 17, 1944, gravely ill, he was ordained a priest in secret in Block 26 by Bishop Gabriel Piguet, the deported Bishop of Clermont. He celebrated his only Mass on December 26, 1944.

Denounced for his prayers on behalf of the Jews, Bernhard Lichtenberg was arrested on October 23, 1941. Sentenced to two years in prison, he refused to buy his freedom with silence and requested to accompany the deported Jews. Deemed incorrigible, he was sent to Dachau but died of exhaustion and heart disease during his transfer on November 5, 1943, in Hof. Karl Leisner was arrested on November 9, 1939, after lamenting the failure of Georg Elser's assassination attempt against Hitler. Deported to Sachsenhausen and then to Dachau, the inhumane conditions there aggravated his tuberculosis. After his clandestine ordination, he spent his final months in the camp infirmary. Liberated by the Americans in April 1945, he passed away on August 12, 1945, at the Planegg sanatorium in profound peace.

The diocesan processes for Bernhard Lichtenberg and Karl Leisner were conducted by the dioceses of Berlin and Münster. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints recognized their martyrdom in odium fidei (decrees promulgated on July 2, 1994, for Lichtenberg and January 12, 1996, for Leisner). They were beatified together on June 23, 1996, by Pope John Paul II at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, a highly symbolic location sixty years after the 1936 Olympic Games. Blessed Bernhard Lichtenberg is commemorated on November 5 (the day of his birth into heaven), and Blessed Karl Leisner on August 12 (the day of his death).

The spirituality of Bernhard Lichtenberg rests on the primacy of conscience, a holy space where God speaks to man. In 2004, the Yad Vashem memorial awarded him the title of Righteous Among the Nations for his actions on behalf of the Jews. His remains rest in the crypt of St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin. Karl Leisner lived his priesthood as a total identification with the sacrifice of Christ, guided by his motto 'Christ, you are my passion'. His spiritual testament resides in his final words: 'Bless also, O Lord, my enemies!'. Ordained by a French bishop in a German camp, he is a powerful symbol of Franco-German and ecumenical reconciliation. His tomb is located in the crypt of the Xanten Cathedral.