In Paris, 50 young priests, religious, and lay Catholics murdered by Nazis in 1944-45 for aiding forced laborers are beatified, hailed by Pope Leo XIV as courageous Gospel witnesses.
Newsroom (15/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) On a solemn yet joyful Gaudete Sunday, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris hosted the beatification of 50 young French Catholics who were killed by the Nazis out of hatred for the faith during the final years of World War II.
Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg and a Jesuit, presided over the December 13 Mass, declaring blessed a group that included priests, a religious brother, a seminarian, laymen, and members of Catholic Action and scouting movements from some 30 French dioceses.
The following day, Pope Leo XIV announced the beatification from St. Peter’s Square after reciting the Angelus. “In Paris, Raymond Cayré, priest; Gérard-Martin Cendrier, of the Order of Friars Minor; Roger Vallé, seminarian; Jean Mestre, layman; and forty-six companions, murdered out of hatred for the faith in the years 1944-45 during the Nazi occupation, were beatified,” the pontiff said.
“We praise the Lord for these martyrs, courageous witnesses of the Gospel, persecuted and killed for remaining with their people and faithful to the Church,” he added, noting that 124 martyrs were also beatified in Spain the same day.
In an apostolic letter read during the Paris ceremony, Pope Leo XIV established May 5 as the annual feast day for the new blesseds.
In his homily, Cardinal Hollerich described the first half of the 20th century as Europe’s “dark century of terrible carnage,” marked by two world wars and the victims of Nazi dictatorship. Yet amid that darkness, he said, there were “flashes of light” — and the 50 new blesseds were among those whose names and faces can still be identified.
Most were between 20 and 35 years old when they answered a call from Cardinal Emmanuel Suhard, then Archbishop of Paris, and Father Jean Rodhain to minister to more than 1.5 million young French workers deported to Germany for forced labor. German priests were forbidden from serving them, leaving the deportees without spiritual guidance.
“They felt an immense love for God, for Christ,” Cardinal Hollerich said. “This love impelled them to serve their brothers and sisters who had been sent to Germany to perform forced labor. In fact, there can be no love of God without love of neighbor.”
The cardinal called them “true ‘martyrs of the apostolate,’” whose lives of service culminated in the sacrifice of martyrdom. Through their mercy, they created “islands of paradise” in the hell of the camps, restoring courage, healing hearts, and transmitting serenity and peace.
He highlighted individual testimonies, including that of 22-year-old scout Joël Anglès d’Auriac, beheaded on December 6, 1944, after receiving confession, Communion, and praying the rosary. To the prison chaplain, the young man declared: “I am at complete peace… because I am going towards Jesus Christ.”
Layman Jean Mestre refused an exemption that would have spared him deportation and wrote to his mother: “I love you with all my heart, but I love Jesus Christ even more than you, and I feel that he is calling me to be his witness to my companions who are going to go through difficult times. Forgive me if I cause you pain.”
Cardinal Hollerich drew contemporary lessons from their witness, emphasizing that faith is never private but must be expressed in concrete service. He noted that the Nazis, while forced to tolerate religious freedom in Germany itself, revealed their true contempt for it in occupied territories — making these martyrs witnesses for religious freedom as well.
“Whatever our vocation, our profession, our responsibility, we are committed, as disciples of Christ, to the service of our brothers, wherever in his Providence God has placed us,” he told the congregation.
At the conclusion of the Mass, participants received a prayer card approved by Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, inviting the faithful to seek the intercession of the new blesseds and pray for their canonization. The prayer acknowledges how the martyrs chose to imitate Christ the servant “even to the point of following him in the sacrifice of the cross” rather than save their own lives.
People who receive graces through the intercession of the blessed martyrs are invited to write to Father Bernard Ardura, Postulator, Viale Giotto, 27, 00153 Rome – Italy.
Lord our God,
you granted to the blessed Martyrs of the Catholic Apostolate
the grace to accompany and serve their brothers and sisters
conscripted for Compulsory Labor Service in Germany.
Rather than preserve their lives, they answered your call
and chose to imitate Christ, who became a servant,
even to the point of following him in the sacrifice of the Cross.
Lord, deign to glorify our blessed martyrs
and grant me, through their intercession,
the grace [state the grace requested] that I implore with confidence,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen!
Imprimatur
Paris, November 1, 2025
† Laurent Ulrich,
Archbishop of Paris
With their beatification, the Church holds up these young apostles as models of fidelity and love for a Europe still grappling with the legacy of its darkest century — and as intercessors for a faith lived boldly in service to others.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from ACI Prensa
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