“Neither prison nor chains nor sentence of death can rob a man of the Faith and his free will.”

Franz was born on May 20, 1907, in Sankt Radegund of the Upper Austrian region.  He was the child of Franz Bachmeier and Rosalia Huber, who were both farm servants without the means to marry.  Franz’s grandmother, Elisabeth Huber, took him in and raised him.

During these times there was a great deal of hunger and hardship, mostly due to the 1st World War.  At school, Franz was discriminated against because of his poverty.  At the age of 10, his father was killed in the war, and his mother married the farmer, Heinrich Jagerstatter, who adopted him and raised him as his own.

Heinrich inspired him and he became interested in books and religious literature.  When he came of age, he worked the iron ore industry but felt religiously challenged. He became reckless, and dissolute.  He returned home, was wild and carefree, and had a child, Hildegard, out of wedlock with a farm maidservant.  They later separated but he maintained a great relationship with his daughter.

2 years later he met and wed Franziska Schwaninger, a farmer’s daughter. For their honeymoon they visited Rome, received a blessing from Pope Pius XI, and upon their return, ran the Leherbauernh farm. He became a different man.  They had 3 daughters, and they helped each other progress in their faith, attending Mass daily.

The Nazi regime took Austria in 1938, and he became well known for his criticism of them.  He had a horrendous dream warning him of the condemnation with Nazism, became even more rooted in his Catholic faith,  and placed his complete trust in God. He stood out as the only person in their village who voted against unification with Germany and experienced isolation from others.  

At the age of 33 he was drafted into the army of the Third Reich for training but was deferred thanks to intervention from his mayor.  He joined the Third Order of Saint Francis and was called into the army a 2nd time. Again, he received exemption from the army as a farmer.  He became convinced that participation in the war was a serious sin and decided any future call-ups had to be met with a refusal to fight.

Churches were forced to fly the swastika flag and were subjected to abusive laws.  The National Socialist propaganda machine caused many people to kneel to Hitler upon his entrance.

As the war progressed, and the Nazi forces became strained, he was called a 3rd time.  He refused to swear allegiance or take up weapons based on religious grounds.  He was immediately arrested and taken to Berlin-Tegel for trial.  He restated his refusal but said he would serve as a paramedic.  He refused to bow his head to Hitler.  The prison chaplain was struck by his tranquil character. He was found guilty of sedition and executed by guillotine on August 9, 1943.

“When our Catholic missionaries went to a pagan country to make them Christians, did they advance with machine guns and bombs to convert and improve them?”

“People worry about the obligations of conscience as they concern my wife and children. But I cannot believe that, just because one has a wife and children, a man is free to offend God.”

His feast day is May 21.

For God’s Glory.