Blessed Rupert Mayer, S.J. (1876-1945)

Rupert Mayer, “the Apostle of Munich,” was born in Stuttgart in 1876, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1900. He served as a military chaplain during World War I, and like Saint Ignatius himself, was severely wounded in battle. Mayer had to have his left leg amputated after a grenade attack, and in 1915 was awarded the Iron Cross for his bravery in administering to soldiers at the front lines in France, Poland and Romania.He denounced Nazi ideology (as well as Communism) from its early days, and was arrested twice by the Gestapo before being imprisoned in the Orianienburg-Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1939. The next year he was placed under house arrest at Bavaria’s Ettal Abbey. He died while preaching on All Saints Day in 1945, shortly after the war, due to health issues stemming from his long imprisonment. Father Mayer was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987.
(From the Fordham University website)