Franz Stock
1904-1948 20th century
Standing inside hatred without sharing it; remaining brother to those whom everything divides.
Who was Franz Stock?
A German priest, parish priest of the German church in Paris, in 1941 he agreed to serve as chaplain of the Fresnes, Cherche-Midi and Santé prisons, on condition that he wear no uniform. He walked French resistance members to the execution posts of Mont-Valérien, noting their names and last words in a notebook, carried their letters to their families, and was hated by his own for it. A prisoner himself in 1945, he directed until his death the seminary behind barbed wire at Le Coudray, where a thousand captive German seminarians finished their studies.
In their own words
A Christianity of steel for a century of iron.
The number of saints God wills is enough to save an age.
The Christian must be noticed, must disturb, must jar.