RUPERT
MAYER: A PROFILE IN COURAGE AND COMMITMENT
-Fr.
Cedric Prakash sj*
“Rupert Mayer – who?” Many would perhaps
not have heard of this great Jesuit – who had the courage to take on Hitler and
the Nazi regime at the height of their power!
Born in 1876, into a well-to-do family
of Stuttgart, Germany, Rupert joined the Jesuits as a Diocesan Priest in 1900.
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola influenced him greatly. He writes “now I know my purpose, and the next step is to translate my conviction
into action and to put all possible effort into educating myself for my calling.”
He was a Jesuit ‘par excellence’ totally
committed to the tasks entrusted to him. He suffered a lot but he never
complained about the pain he went through.
He was a brilliant speaker and a prolific writer who used both the
pulpit and the pen very effectively to
speak truth to power.
Long before the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights was promulgated; Rupert Mayer was passionate about the rights of
all particularly when the Nazi regime denied the ordinary people freedom of
speech and freedom of religion.
In 1923, he accepted an invitation to
address a fledgling group of national socialists on the theme ‘Can a Catholic
be a national socialist?’ He accepted the invitation as a challenge totally
prepared to go into a den of lions. Those who invited him felt that they had an
easy victim so when he stood up to address them, the huge crowd gave him a
tremendous applause. Mayer began “I am
afraid, gentlemen that your applause has come a little too soon. My answer to
your question can only be a negative one: NO!
A Catholic cannot be a Nazi!” The early ‘applause’ of the crowd turned to ‘boos’
but Rupert Mayer had made his point!
Throughout his life, he was a strong and
blunt critic of the Nazi regime. The
Nazis did not take his criticism lightly and he was imprisoned from 1937 till
1945 - either in a concentration camp or in exile outside Munich. The solitary
confinement did not break his spirit. It was an occasion to deepen his
spirituality. This is evident in a
letter which he wrote to his mother “In
these last weeks in solitude I believe I have come into far closer contact with
God Almighty in my own self and in the same measure I have become more detached
and withdrawn from earthly things. So I feel not the least worry or anxiety
about my future. I place all that in
God’s good hands. In myself I am completely
contended and at peace.”
Though Mayer suffered greatly at the
hands of the Nazi regime, he did not compromise. His resolute courage also earned him the
admiration of his detractors; so much so that they were afraid to allow him to
die a martyr’s death in a concentration camp and sent him to live in exile in a
monastery at the fag-end of his life.
The courage and commitment of Mayer is epitomized
in this prayer which he wrote in 1941 and sent to a nun with the following
addendum written by hand: “This pray brought me much comfort in most difficult times. I hope that it will give you also some joy”.
Lord, as you
will, so let it be for me; And as you will, so will I walk that road;
Help me only to
know your will!
Lord whenever
you will, then is the time; And whenever you will, then I am ready,
today and
always.
Lord, whatever
you will, that I accept, And whatever you will, is gain for me;
Enough, that I
belong to you.
Lord, because
you will it, it is good; And because you will it, I have courage,
My heart rests
safely in your hands!
As
we celebrate the memory of Rupert Mayer on November
3rd, let us pray that in some small way each one of us, emulate
his courage and his commitment.
3rd November,
2015
*(Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is
the Director of PRASHANT, the
Ahmedabad-based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace.)
Address: ‘PRASHANT’,
Hill Nagar, Near Saffron Hotel, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052
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