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= Alfred Delp =
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Introduction
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Alfred Delp (, 15 September 1907 - 2 February 1945) was a German
Jesuit priest and philosopher of the German Resistance. A member of
the inner Kreisau Circle resistance group, he is considered a
significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism. Falsely
implicated in the failed 1944 July Plot to overthrow Adolf Hitler,
Delp was arrested and sentenced to death. He was executed in 1945.

Early life and education
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Alfred Delp was born in Mannheim, Grand Duchy of Baden, to a Catholic
mother and a Protestant father. Although he was baptised as a
Catholic, he attended a Protestant elementary school and was confirmed
in the Lutheran church in 1921. Following a bitter argument with the
Lutheran pastor, he requested and received the sacraments of First
Communion and Confirmation in the Catholic Church. His Catholic pastor
recognized the boy's intelligence and love for learning and arranged
for him to study at the 'Goetheschule' in Dieburg. Possibly because of
the dual upbringing, he became later an ardent proponent of radically
better relations between the Churches.

Thereafter, Delp's youth was moulded mainly by the Bund Neudeutschland
Catholic youth movement. Immediately after passing his Abitur – in
which he was top of his class – he joined the Society of Jesus in
1926. Following philosophy studies at Pullach, he worked for 3 years
as a prefect and sports teacher at Stella Matutina Kolleg in
Feldkirch, Austria, where in 1933, he first experienced the Nazi
regime, which forced an exodus of virtually all German students from
Austria and thus the Stella Matutina by means of a punitive 1000 Mark
fine to be paid by anyone entering Austria. With his Director, Fr Otto
Faller and Professor Alois Grimm, he was among the first to arrive in
the Black Forest, where the Jesuits opened Kolleg St. Blasien for some
300 students forced out of Austria. After St. Blasien, he completed
his theology studies in Valkenburg, Holland (1934-1936), and in
Frankfurt (1936-1937).

Ministry
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In 1935, Delp published his 'Tragic Existence', propagating a
God-based humanism and reviewing the existentialism of Martin
Heidegger. In 1937, Delp was ordained a Catholic priest in Munich.
Delp had wanted to study for a doctorate in philosophy at the
University of Munich, but he was refused admission to the university
for political reasons. From 1939 on, he worked on the editorial staff
of the Jesuit journal 'Stimmen der Zeit' ("Voices of the Times"),
until the Nazis suppressed it in April 1941. He was then assigned as
rector of St. Georg Church, part of Heilig-Blut Parish in the Munich
neighbourhood Bogenhausen. He preached both at Heilig-Blut and St.
Georg, and also secretly helped Jews who were escaping to Switzerland
through the underground.

Resistance
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Outspoken opposition to the Nazis by individual Jesuits resulted in
harsh response from government officials, including imprisonment of
priests in concentration camps. The government takeover of church
property, "Klostersturm", resulted in the loss of valuable properties
such as that of 'Stimmen der Zeit', and limited the work of the
Jesuits in Germany. The Jesuit provincial, Augustin Rösch, Delp's
superior in Munich, became active in the underground resistance to
Hitler.

Rösch introduced Delp to the Kreisau Circle. As of 1942, Delp met
regularly with the clandestine group around Helmuth James Graf von
Moltke to develop a model for a new social order after the Third Reich
came to an end. Delp's role was to explain Catholic social teaching to
the group, and to arrange contacts between Moltke and Catholic
leaders, including Archbishop Konrad von Preysing of Berlin and Bishop
Johannes Dietz of Fulda.

Arrest and trial
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After the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler failed, a special Gestapo
commission arrested and interrogated all known members of the
Resistance. Delp was arrested in Munich on 28 July 1944 (eight days
after Claus von Stauffenberg's attempt on Hitler's life), although he
was not directly involved in the plot. He was transferred to Tegel
Prison in Berlin. While in prison, he secretly began to say Mass and
wrote letters, reflections on Advent, on Christmas, and other
spiritual subjects, which were smuggled out of the prison before his
trial. On 8 December 1944, Delp had a visit from Franz von Tattenbach
SJ, sent by Rösch to receive his final vows to the Jesuit Order. This
was supposedly forbidden, but the attending policemen did not
understand what was going on. Delp wrote on the same day, “It was
too much, what a fulfillment, I prayed for it so much, I gave my life
away. My chains are now without any meaning, because God found me
worthy of the 'Vincula amoris' (chains of love)”.

He was tried, together with Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, Franz
Sperr, and Eugen Gerstenmaier, before the People's Court
('Volksgerichtshof') on 9–11 January 1945, with Roland Freisler
presiding. Delp, von Moltke, and Sperr were sentenced to death by
hanging for high treason and treason. The court had dropped the charge
against Delp of being aware of 20 July plot, but his dedication to the
Kreisau Circle, his work as a Jesuit priest, and his Christian-social
worldview were enough to seal his fate.

Execution
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While he was in prison, the Gestapo offered Delp his freedom in return
for leaving the Jesuits, but he rejected it. Delp, like all prisoners
connected with 20 July, was required to wear handcuffs day and night.
Prisoners being taken to execution were handcuffed with their hands
behind their backs. The sentence was carried out on 2 February 1945 at
Plötzensee Prison in Berlin. The next day, Roland Freisler was killed
in an air-raid. A special order by Heinrich Himmler required that the
remains of all prisoners executed in connection with 20 July Plot be
cremated, and their ashes scattered over the sewage fields.
Accordingly, the body of Alfred Delp was cremated and his ashes
disposed of in an unknown location near Berlin.

Posthumous honours
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In September 1949, the superior Fr Otto Faller at Kolleg St. Blasien
unveiled memorial plaques for Delp and Alois Grimm, both former
educators and teachers slain by the Nazis. Thirty years later, Kolleg
St. Blasien named its new theatre hall after Delp. The Alfred Delp
Memorial Chapel in Lampertheim was consecrated on 2 February 1965, on
the 20th anniversary of his death. Many schools in Germany are named
after Alfred Delp, among them one in Bremerhaven. In Mannheim, a
Catholic student residence is named for him. The guesthouse on the
campus of Canisius College in Berlin also bears his name. In Dieburg,
the uppermost level at the Gymnasium, the Alfred Delp School, the
Catholic community centre, the Father Delp House, and a street are
named after him. The Bundeswehr named its barracks in Donauwörth the
'Alfred-Delp-Kaserne'. In 1955, the Wasserburgerstrasse, a street in
Munich-Bogenhausen where Eva Braun resided beginning in 1935, has been
renamed Delpstrasse.

Delp's name was included among the almost other 900 Catholics in a
list of people having suffered a violent death for adherence to the
Christian faith, published in 1999 as 'Zeugen für Christus. Das
deutsche Martyrologium des 20. Jahrhunderts' ('Witnesses for Christ.
The German Martyrology of the 20th century'), prepared by Mgr Helmut
Moll under the auspices of the German Bishops' Conference.

Beatification process
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Delp's final parish in Munich sent documentation supporting the start
of his official beatification process to the Archbishop of Berlin,
Cardinal Georg Sterzinsky, in January 1990.

Writings
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Delp's book 'In the Face of Death', published in 1956, gathered
together his meditations, notes, fragments of his diary and letters,
written during his six months imprisonment, and has been compared to
Dietrich Bonhoeffer's 'Letters and Papers from Prison'. It is the
first part of a trilogy that includes 'Committed to the Earth' and
'The Mighty God'. The American edition of his 'Prison Meditations'
(1963) had an introduction by Thomas Merton, who considered him a
mystic and among the most insightful writers of his time. The German
edition of his 'Collected Works' (1982-1988) was edited by Fr. Roman
Bleistein SJ in five volumes.

Delp is best known for his writings that were smuggled out of prison.
Because he was imprisoned during the Christmas season, many of these
are on the theme of Advent and the coming of Jesus. In one of his last
letters, Delp wrote, "...all of life is Advent". Many Christians
continue to read and be inspired by Delp's life and witness.

Quotes
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*God does not need great pathos or great works. He needs greatness of
hearts. He cannot calculate with zeroes
*It is the time of sowing, not of harvesting. God is sowing; one day
He will harvest again. I will try to do one thing. I will try to at
least be a healthy and fruitful seed, falling into the soil. And into
the Lord God's hand.
*Whoever does not have the courage to make history, becomes its poor
object. Let's do it!
*Many of the things that are happening today would never have happened
if we had been living in that longing, that disquiet of heart which
comes when we are faced with God, and when we look clearly at things
as they really are. If we had done this, God would have withheld his
hand from many of the things that now shake and crush our lives. We
would have come to terms with and judged the limits of our own
competence.
*When we get out of here, we will show, that (ecumenicism) is more
than personal friendship. We will continue to carry the historical
burden of our separated churches, as baggage and inheritance. But
never again shall it became shameful to Christ. Like you, I do not
believe in the utopia of complete unity stews. But the one Christ is
undivided, and when undivided love leads to Him, we will do better
than our fighting predecessors and contemporaries.
*If there was a little more light and truth in the world through one
human being, his life has had meaning.
*In half an hour, I'll know more than you do.
*We need people who are moved by the horrific calamities and emerge
from them with the knowledge that those who look to the Lord will be
preserved by Him, even if they are hounded from the earth.
*Someday, others shall be able to live better and happier lives
because we died.

Works
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* 'Tragische Existenz. Zur Philosophie Martin Heideggers', Herder,
Freiburg im Breisgau, 1935.
* 'Gesammelte Schriften' (German edition of his 'Collected Writings',
edited by Roman Bleistein SJ) in five volumes:

'Geistliche Schriften' (1982)
'Philosophische Schriften' (1983)
'Predigten und Ansprachen.' (1983)
'Aus dem Gefängnis.' (1984)
'Briefe - Texte - Rezensionen' (1988)

See also
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*Jesuits and Nazi Germany

Sources
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Sources in English
* Coady, Mary Frances, 'With Bound Hands: A Jesuit in Nazi Germany',
Loyola Press, Chicago, 2003, .
* Alfred Delp, 'Advent of the Heart: Seasonal Sermons and Prison
Writings 1941-1944', Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 2006, .
Biographical information pp. 13-19 and pp. 173-189.
*Anton Gill, 'An Honourable Defeat', Henry Holt, New York, 1994.
*
[http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2006/frakreuser_intervw_oct06.asp
Kreuser Interview, personal memories of Father Delp as pastor in
Munich]
* [http://www.gdw-berlin.de/bio/ausgabe_mit-e.php?id=23 Biography at
GDW-Berlin, the center for remembrance of the German Resistance]
*
[http://www.raoulwallenberg.net/?en/wallenberg/articles/celebrating-100th-birthday.4418.htm
Delp honored by Raoul Wallenberg Foundation] (regarding Alfred Delp's
assistance to Jews)

Sources in German
* Roman Bleistein, 'Alfred Delp, Geschichte eines Zeugen' ('Alfred
Delp, A Witness's Story'), Knecht Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1989,
* Günther Saltin, 'Durchkreutztes Leben', Schlüssler, Mannheim 2004
(2),
* Elke Endraß, 'Gemeinsam gegen Hitler. Pater Alfred Delp und Helmuth
James Graf von Moltke', Kreuz Verlag, Stuttgart 2007,
* Rita Haub/ Heinrich Schreiber, 'Alfred Delp, Held gegen Hitler'
('Alfred Delp, Hero Against Hitler'), Echter Verlag, Würzburg 2005,
* Christian Feldmann, 'Alfred Delp. Leben gegen den Strom' ('Alfred
Delp, Life Against the Current'), Herder, Freiburg 2005,
* 'Glaube als Widerstandskraft. Edith Stein, Alfred Delp, Dietrich
Bonhoeffer' ('Faith as Strength to Resist: Edith Stein, Alfred Delp,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer'), 1987,

External links
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*
*
[http://www.alfred-delp-gesellschaft.de/index.cfm?CFID=5643519&CFTOKEN=b830445f60de5b85-6461ABB1-A5C9-1E4D-DCDB74535E028E8F&MGMT_STATE=LITERATUR
Alfred Delp Society Official Website (German)]
*
[http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2007/fradelp_70ordination_jun07.asp
Translation of a Delp sermon about his ordination as priest]
*
[http://www.raoulwallenberg.net/?en/wallenberg/articles/celebrating-100th-birthday.4418.htm
Delp honored by Raoul Wallenberg Foundation]
* [http://www.gdw-berlin.de/bio/ausgabe_mit-e.php?id=23 Biography at
GDW-Berlin, the center for remembrance of the German Resistance]
* [http://www.catholicireland.net/alfred-delp-sj-a-man-transformed/
Alfred Delp SJ: a man transformed, Catholic Ireland Website]
*
* [http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/DelpAlfred/ Biography at the
German Historical Museum]
* [http://morgue.anglicansonline.org/061210/ An Anglican meditation on
Delp's Advent sermons] from Anglicans Online
*
[https://web.archive.org/web/20051024135255/http://www.jesuiten.org/frameset.asp?file=delp.htm&dir=%2Fprofil%2Fjesuitenaz%2F
Biography at 'Jesuiten-Online']
*
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110514044403/http://www.kath.net/detail.php?id=9579
Article on the 60th anniversary of Alfred Delp's death, with a
biography]

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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Delp