Richard Henkes
Richard Henkes (26 May 1900 – 22 February 1945) was a German Roman Catholic priest of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate. Henkes served as a teacher but was best known for his preaching abilities in the pulpit where he made strong-worded condemnations of Nazism and the actions the Nazis were said to have made. Henkes offered indirect assistance to the German Resistance during World War II and was one of the more vocal German priests to condemn Nazism. This often worried his superiors who believed that Henkes placed his schools at great risk. He was critical of the regime's murder of the disabled and other atrocities which forced the S.S. to arrest him. His first arrest in 1938 saw him released but his second arrest in 1943 saw him sent to the Dachau concentration camp. It was during that time that he befriended Josef Beran (future cardinal) who taught him the Czech language.
Henkes' cause for beatification gained interest not long after he died though waned in the following decades until around 2000 when formal requests were made to launch the cause. The cause began in 2002 and Henkes was titled as a Servant of God. He was declared Blessed on 15 September 2019.
In the Martyrology
- February 22 Blessed Richard Henkes, priest and martyr