the augsburg 2030 initiatve: carrying on the legacy of Fr. max josef metzger
una sancta
Dr. Max Josef Metzger (1887-1944) was declared Blessed of the Catholic Church by Pope Francis on March 14 2024. The beatification process for Metzger was opened on May 8 2006 by the Archbishop of Freiburg Robert Zollitsche. The initial part of the process was completed in March 2014 at which time documentation was submitted to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. The Dicastery announced on 14th March that the execution of Max Josef Metzger at the hands of the National Socialist Regime was the death of a martyr death. This opened the way for the beatification of Metzger which took place in Freiburg at the Cathedral on November 17th 2024.
FREIBURG MÜNSTER CATHEDRAL
PICTURE: FREIBURG CATHEDRAL https://heroesofadventure.com/listing/freiburger-munster-freiburg-im-breisgau-germany/
WHY IS METZGER TO HONORED AND WHAT IS HIS LEGACY?
Metzger was born in Schopfheim to Catholic family and was ordained to the priesthood on June 1911 for the Diocese of Freiburg. He served as a Chaplain during the First World War, an experience which turned him into a ardent pacifist. He was most famous however for his work for Christian Unity and the foundation of his Una Sancta Brotherhood. In this work Fr Metzger travelled all over Germany during the war years urging Catholics and Lutherans to come together for times of prayer and fellowship. He arranged for lectures, retreats and discussions where both could share their similarities and differences in a sympathetic open environment. His activity regularly got him in trouble with the Gestapo and he was imprisoned several times for various charges in 1934, 1938, and 1939. He was finally arrested in Berlin and sentenced to death by notorious Judge Roland Freisler and executed at Brandenburg Görden Prison on April 17th 1944. On his grave are the words' " I have given my life for peace in the world and for the unity of the Churches.' His life and ministry had a direct effect upon the growth of ecumenism in the Catholic Church leading up to the Vatican Council and the formation of the Secretariat and then the Council before the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity.
The Xtra Choir of Brandenburg perform the Metzger Oratorio in Bradenburg Görden Prison on the 80th anniversary of the execution of Max Josef. Metzger
Metzger's heart was broken by the division of the Church in Germany which had led to the 30 years war and the tragedy of the destruction of Magdeburg and the slaughter of its citizens. At a famous meeting in the Dresden Hofkirche he asked his audience ' Why are we still separated?' Cormac and Fiona O'Duffy got involved with the legacy of Max Josef when Cormac decided to make a Song Cycle of the poems Metzger had written in prison called 'Gefangnisgedichte' meaning prison poems. This work was performed in the parish Church of St Wolfgang's in Meitingen in November 2019 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Metzger's Community ' Christkoenig Institut. Subsequently this work was enlarged to become an Oratorio called 'Metzger' and was first performed in Brandenburg Görden Prison where Metzger was executed on the 80th anniversary of his execution.
Cormac and Fiona felt called to carry on the work of Una Sancta in the States and Europe and in particular to support the work of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity and the Lutheran World Federation with the International Lutheran Council as they seek to agree on the Augsburg Confession before its 500th anniversary in 2030. They feel this is a small first step towards restoring the unity of the Western Church and something that would have been close to Max Josef Metzger's heart.