How did that happen? Did he go to Africa and get eaten by cannibals? Not exactly ... OK, what?
Well, he was a Roman Catholic priest and King Frederick II of Prussia, often named Frederick the Great, thought he had a duty to the state to reveal things said in confession.
He, on his part, thought, he had a duty to God to not reveal things said in confession.
And Frederick II had the chaplain Andreas Faulhaber executed. Here is a paragraph from wiki that I will first quote and then translate:
Im Ersten Schlesischen Krieg wurde Glatz, das bis dahin unmittelbar zu Böhmen gehörte, von den Preußen erobert. Unter dem preußischen Statthalter begannen schwere Zeiten für den katholischen Klerus. Die Militärbehörde unterstellte den Geistlichen, die Fahnenflucht der preußischen Soldaten zu fördern. Andreas Faulhaber übernahm die seelsorgliche Betreuung der katholischen Soldaten auf der Glatzer Festung, wobei er diesen auch die Beichte abnahm. Ein aufgegriffener Deserteur sagte aus, er hätte den Kaplan in der Beichte befragt, ob er desertieren dürfte, worauf dieser ihm geantwortet haben soll: „Es wäre wohl eine schwere Sache, doch hätte es wieder nicht viel auf sich.“ Faulhaber wurde im September 1757 in Haft genommen. Der Deserteur hat bei nachfolgenden Verhören seine erste Aussage mehrfach zurückgenommen. Trotz erwiesener Unschuld wurde Kaplan Faulhaber auf Befehl des Königs Friedrich II. am 30. Dezember 1757 gehängt. Vor dem Galgen wurde er aufgefordert, zu sagen, was der Deserteur gebeichtet hat, oder den Galgen zu wählen; Faulhaber soll den Finger auf den Mund gelegt haben und dem Galgen zugeschritten sein. Für die Bewohner der Grafschaft Glatz war Andreas Faulhaber ein Märtyrer des Beichtgeheimnisses.
Up to the First Silesian War, Glatz had immediately belonged under Bohemia, but was then taken by the Prussians. Under the Prussian Governor, the times became difficult for the Catholic clergy. The military official was more or less accusing the priests to promote the desertion of Prussian soldiers. Andrew Faulhaber took over the Pastoral for the Catholic soldiers of the Fortress in Glatz, including hearing confession. A deserter was caught and told how he had asked the chaplain in confession if he could desert, whereon he is supposed to have answered: "It would probably be a 'heavy thing'* but yet it would not be all that big a deal." In September 1757, Faulhaber was arrested. In subsequent interrogations, the deserter more than once retracted his original testimony. Despite being proven innocent, the chaplain Faulhaber was hanged on order of King Frederick II on the 30th December 1757. Before the gallows, he was pushed to tell, what the deserter had confessed or to chose the gallows. Here, Faulhaber "allegedly" put the finger on the mouth and walked towards the gallows. For the inhabitants of the county Glatz, Andrew Faulhaber was a martyr for the seal of confession.
Obviously, the wording I translated "allegedly" - "soll ... haben" was added by a wikipedian who has some difficulty to believe that a Roman Catholic priest (educated by Jesuits, though himself it seems a diocesan priest), could die with such panache.
In 1942, during the World War, his relics (meaning basically dead body) was examined. On his lower jaw, well preserved, there was 4 cm left of intact tongue tissue. It would seem God had preserved his organ of speech, because he has not spoken when he should not. The proceeding to beatify him was however cancelled by the war and by Glatz - now officially Kłodzko - losing the Germans who had commemorated his martyrdom in 1945.**
Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris
St. Peregrin of Lyons
28.VII.2022
* The German "schwere Sache" can both mean "difficult thing" and "heavily guilty" one, like mortally sinful. ** They were replaced by Poles who came from elsewhere.
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