P
Paganus
Guest
Anyone a fan of Blessed Franz Jagerstatter or just looking for some inspirational Lenten reading?
I’m reading this book Franz Jagerstatter: Letters and Writings from Prison (
amazon.com/Franz-Jagerstatter-Letters-Writings-Prison/dp/1570758263) and I am just blown away.
This Austrian farmer has a very blue collar appeal and yet he really thought out his position and stuck to it all the way to a Nazi guillotine. He was conscripted but refused to pledge unconditional loyalty to the Fuhrer because he believed that to do so was incompatible with his Catholic faith - so they killed him.
This guy’s life was a Country & Western song: he was a teenage father, a brawler, a farmer, a miner, a motorcyclist, and ultimately an incredibly inspiring Catholic. Franz’s train dream has much in common with a song that was popular on the Country charts a few years ago but predated Josh Turner’s “Long Black Train” (youtube.com/watch?v=PyRZTAmcW7c) by about 70 years. Anyone living in the Third Reich who answered “Heil Hilter” with “Phooey Hitler” was awesome just for that, but this man’s faith life was incredible.
Plus he had a wagonload of good sense. I loved his letter to his godson, when this man, who left school at 14 years of age, advised his godson to read good books and asserted “People who do not read will never be able to think for themselves, and hence they will become playground balls that others will kick around.” Pretty much describes the ‘post-literate’ society that I live in. I’m amazed. No high school diploma but he was better educated than many of my peers with graduate degrees. It’s a great book, especially for Lent. It puts things in stark perspective. Find it - read it!
Have a blessed day.
I’m reading this book Franz Jagerstatter: Letters and Writings from Prison (
amazon.com/Franz-Jagerstatter-Letters-Writings-Prison/dp/1570758263) and I am just blown away.
This Austrian farmer has a very blue collar appeal and yet he really thought out his position and stuck to it all the way to a Nazi guillotine. He was conscripted but refused to pledge unconditional loyalty to the Fuhrer because he believed that to do so was incompatible with his Catholic faith - so they killed him.
This guy’s life was a Country & Western song: he was a teenage father, a brawler, a farmer, a miner, a motorcyclist, and ultimately an incredibly inspiring Catholic. Franz’s train dream has much in common with a song that was popular on the Country charts a few years ago but predated Josh Turner’s “Long Black Train” (youtube.com/watch?v=PyRZTAmcW7c) by about 70 years. Anyone living in the Third Reich who answered “Heil Hilter” with “Phooey Hitler” was awesome just for that, but this man’s faith life was incredible.
Plus he had a wagonload of good sense. I loved his letter to his godson, when this man, who left school at 14 years of age, advised his godson to read good books and asserted “People who do not read will never be able to think for themselves, and hence they will become playground balls that others will kick around.” Pretty much describes the ‘post-literate’ society that I live in. I’m amazed. No high school diploma but he was better educated than many of my peers with graduate degrees. It’s a great book, especially for Lent. It puts things in stark perspective. Find it - read it!
Have a blessed day.