Blessed Richard Henkes Biography
Blessed Richard Henkes Profile. Born: 26 May 1900 in Germany, Europe. Worked in Germany, Czech. Died: 22 February 1945 in Dachau concentration camp, Germany. Feast Day is celebrated on February 22.
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The Memorial of Blessed Richard Henkes – Saint of the Day |
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Blessed Richard Henkes Biography, Feast Day, Date of Birth, Country of Birth, Profession, Place of Work, Date of Death, Place of Death, Beatification Date, Canonization Date |
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Date of Birth |
26 May 1900 |
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Country of Birth |
Germany in Europe |
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Matrimony/Holy Orders |
Blesseds who were Priests |
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Profession |
Missionary |
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Place of Work |
Germany, Czech |
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Date of Death |
22 February 1945 |
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Place of Death |
Dachau concentration camp, Germany |
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Feast Day |
February 22 |
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Beatification |
Beatified by N/A |
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Canonization |
Canonized by N/A |
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Patron Saint of |
N/A |
Blessed Richard Henkes Biography
Blessed Richard Henkes was one of eight children in the family of a mason. His mother taught them religion and would sprinkle them with holy water each night before bed. Attracted to the idea of mission work, he joined the Pallotines in 1919. He then became a spiritual student of Joseph Kentenich. Richard was ordained to the priesthood on 6 June 1925 in the diocese of Limburg, Germany.
He became a teacher in several Pallottine and Schoenstatt schools beginning in 1926. In 1927 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and collapsed from exhaustion. It was considered unfit for his to be taken to South Africa for medication but people argued that he was too sick to withstand the journey.
After recovery, he became a skilled and popular preacher and retreat leader condemning the ideology and actions of the Nazis, especially the murder of disabled people and others considered an unproductive burden on society. He was then arrested for this on 7 March 1937 in Roppach, Germany, warned and released. Father
Richard became allies with the Resistance and spoke so forcefully and so often against the Nazis that his superiors began to worry that the Nazis would revolute against the school where Richard taught. He was arrested again on 8 April 1943 in Branitz, Germany for his political statements and was imprisoned first at Ratibor, Germany and then to Dachau concentration camp where he was forced to do manual labour.
He became allied with a fellow prisoner and future Cardinal, Josef Beran who taught him the Czech language so he could help minister to imprisoned Czechs. When typhoid broke out in the premises, Father Richard volunteered to minister to the sick until he contracted the illness to himself. Martyr.
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