The widow of Austrian martyr Franz Jäggerstätter--Franziska Jäggerstätter--died in March, and I like very much how Tom Roberts describes the ceremony in Linz's cathedral when Franz Jäggerstätter was beatified in October 2007:
It is unusual for Catholics on the path to sainthood to have been married, and a rather endearing moment occurred during the beatification, the second step to sainthood between being declared "venerable" and being canonized. Some 5,000 people crowded into the cathedral broke into sustained applause when Jägerstätter's four daughters, all of whom attended the ceremony, were acknowledged. He had three with Franziska -- Maria, Rosalia and Aloisa. A fourth, Hildegard, was born out of wedlock to another woman before his marriage to Franziska.
The evening of the beatification, a public official in that region of Austria hosted a large reception and buffet for those attending the ceremony. Franziska could be seen at a table, raising a glass of wine and greeting a steady stream of visitors.
In this scene, I see a real Catholic sensibility at work. But not in the one described here, which notes that Detroit archbishop Allen Vigneron and his theologian-sidekick Edward Peters want to revive the deeply anti-catholic communion wars around the marriage equality issue.
The photo of Franziska Jäggerstätter is from the Linz (Austria) diocesan Catholic newspaper.
