SaintsHA

Saint Alejandro Born: March 20, 1916 Death: January 12, 1944 Canonized: December 16, 1974 Feast Day: June 6

St. Alejandro was born to a wealthy family in Germany on March 20, 1916. His mother passed away when he was 10 years old, still he never forgot how she loved to help everyone who was in need even though her husband (a decorated general of the German army) did not approve. After his mother was gone, Alejandro tried to continue to help the poor and for about two years he did all he could. One day, Alejandro was leaving the house with a basket of food to take to the poor and his father found him. When his father realized what he was doing he was very angry, and decided that the only way to take those “silly ideas” of helping the poor out of his mind was to send him to military school and when he graduated have Alejandro joined the German army.

Alejandro was sent away to complete his studies at a military school and when he graduated he enlisted in the German army to follow in his father’s footsteps. He did this because it was his father’s wish, but in his heart all he wanted to do is follow the example of his mother. Because of his father’s high ranking Alejandro was given office jobs and never placed in apposition where he would be in the line of fire. In that job Alejandro began to see the injustice that was being committed towards the Jews and other minorities, he felt he needed to do something so he decided he would figure out a way to get a job on the field where he could save these people. But he would have to enlist others in his cause to save these people. Alejandro began to meet with those that opposed the government and were willing to help in his cause.

It took about a year for Alejandro to finally get an appointment in a concentration camp named Auschwitz. When he arrived he could not believe all the horrible things that were done to the “prisoners”. The first thing he began to do was to give his helpers the information of when and from the trains brining the prisoners were coming from so that they could ambush the train and free all the travelers. This worked for a while but then the Germans began to get suspicious of Alejandro so he was sent back to hold desk job. This did not stop Alejandro from continuing to help, along with his opposition group he would send out messages to the Allied forces of were the camps were and whenever he could he would even give them the blueprints so that they could save the people taken to the camps. Those that were saved from the camps began to talk about the German angel that helped save them. These stories began to spread and one day, while on his way to meet with his group Alejandro was arrested and charged with treason. On January 12, 1944, Alejandro was taken to concentration camp and was killed in front of a group of Jews. The stories of Alejandro and his fight against injustice lived on and he was officially canonized 30 years after his death.

St. Alejandro helped others even if it meant he had to risk his life to do it, that is why he is the patron saint of firefighters, soldiers and police officers. His feast day is June 6 (D-Day), the day the Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy to fight the Nazi army.