GERMANY, Father Stefan Keller. On December 17, 2014 – Pope Francis’ 78th birthday – was the 70th Anniversary of the priestly ordination of Blessed Karl Leisner in Dachau concentration camp, through the hands of a French bishop, who was also a prisoner. On this occasion, a statue was blessed in Kleve (Cleves), in the lower Rhine, Blessed Karl Leisner’s hometown.
On December 13th, the Karl Leisner International Circle (Internationaler Karl Leisner Kreis – IKLK) extended an invitation to a ceremony in Kolpinhaus de Kleve. Seventy-five members and guests accepted the invitation of the president, Father Benedict Elshoff.
The reason for the gathering was the 70th Anniversary of Karl Leisner’s priestly ordination, on Gaudete Sunday (the third Sunday of Advent) in 1944. Bishop Gabriel Piguet, who was also a prisoner in Dachau, dispensed the priestly ordination to the cathedral deacon.
The IKLK (the Karl Leisner International Circle) invited the Archbishop Emeritus of Hamburg, Werner Thissen, to bless a statue of Karl Leisner in front of the Kleve collegiate and then to celebrate a Mass.
The Archbishop, who is from Kleve, blessed the statue in the presence of its creator, Bert Gerrsheim.
A true European
In his homily, Archbishop Thissen, vested with the tunic of the martyr’s first Mass, stressed the importance that he had for the city, the region and the entire Church. Karl had been a true sEuropean as the trips of his youth and the participation of priests from twenty-two countries in his ordination demonstrate. As a man totally committed to the work of God, Bl. Karl Leisner had the traits of a mystic. At the end of his homily, the bishop asked for prayer, invoking Blessed Karl Leisner so that he will soon be canonized and be venerated by the entire Church.
Source: www.moriah.de
Original: German – Translation, Celina M. Garza, San Antonio, TX USA
