Bischof Clemens August Graf von Galen

Wilhelm Lautenbach (1881-1957)

1935

Öl/Holz; 29 x 23 cm

Dauerleihgabe des Stadtmuseums Münster

Born at on March 16, 1878 of Count Ferdinand Heribert von Galen and Elisabeth, nee Countess von Spee.

His education in the family home was marked by a deep faith and a strong unity among the members of his family. He was ordained as a priest at Munster on May 28, 1904 and served in Berlin.

In 1929, the bishop of Munster called him to the office of parish priest at Saint Lambert's in Munster. On October 28, 1933 he was consecrated as a bishop by cardinal Joseph Schulte. Faithful to his motto "Nec laudibus, nec timore - without regard to praise or fear" he disputed the ideology of national socialism for the first time in his Lenten pastoral letter in 1934. In the summer of 1941, he denounced the violation of human rights by the nazi regime in his widely remembered sermons. He was firmly convinced that he would be murdered. On February 18, 1946, Pope Pius XII called him to the college of cardinals. After he had taken up the office of cardinal in Munster on March 16, 1946,

he became seriously ill.

Postzegels:

Germany - 1996