Blessed Father Otto Neururer | |
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![]() Neururer in 1922 | |
Church | Roman Catholic Church |
Orders | |
Ordination | 29 June 1907 by Josef Altenweisel |
Personal details | |
Born | Otto Neururer 25 March 1882 |
Died | 30 May 1940 Buchenwald, Gau Thuringia, Germany | (aged 58)
Sainthood | |
Feast day | 13 August |
Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
Beatified | 24 November 1996 Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II |
Attributes | |
Patronage |
Otto Neururer (25 March 1882 – 30 May 1940) was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest and was the first priest to die in a Nazi concentration camp.[1][3][4] Neururer did his studies for the priesthood in Brixen before he served as a teacher and pastor in several cities before settling in 1932 in Götzens near Innsbruck.[2][5] He was arrested in 1938 for attempting to persuade a girl not to be wed to a man of questionable morals and was sent to Dachau before being transferred to Buchenwald where he died after being hanged upside down, nailed to a tree, practically crucified. As he was "crucified" he did not scream, but instead prayed silently. He was left there for 36 hours and then killed by Nazi guard Martin Sommer. Otto Neururer was later beatified.[3][4][6]
Neururer's beatification was celebrated on 24 November 1996 based on the fact that he died as a result of "odium fidei" (the hatred of the faith).[4][1]