Blessed Karl Leisner

I was born in 1915 in Germany. At the age of 19, I entered the Munich seminary and five years later I was ordained a deacon prior to my priestly ordination. Shortly afterwards I was diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent to a sanatorium. A fellow patient reported me for criticising Hitler. I was arrested and in 1941 sent to Dachau concentration camp. I had to live in the priests’ block, where conditions were very bad. My sickness worsened and I feared I would never achieve my dream of becoming a priest. But when in 1944 there was a bishop among the prisoners. My brother priests and even non-Catholics worked together to organise my ordination. With permission of my own bishop, I was clandestinely ordained a priest in the camp. I celebrated my first and only Mass on 26 December. I was liberated on 4 May 1945 and moved to a sanatorium, but was too weak. I died on 12 August.