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Under persecution from [[Otto von Bismarck]]'s ''[[Kulturkampf]]'', the Franciscan Chapter of St. [[Elizabeth of Hungary]] fled their monastery in [[Fulda]] and settled at St. Bonaventure's Friary in [[Paterson, New Jersey]]. Although still studying in [[minor seminary]], Joseph Heinrichs emigrated to America with them. On December 4, 1886, Heinrichs entered the Franciscan novitiate at St. Bonaventure's and received the [[monastic name]] Brother Leo. He took his final vows on December 8, 1890, and was ordained to the priesthood on July 26, 1891.<ref name=hnp>[https://hnp.org/who-we-are/our-friars/deceased-friars/leo-heinrichs/ "Leo Heinrichs, OFM", Franciscan Friars, Holy Name Province]</ref>
Under persecution from [[Otto von Bismarck]]'s ''[[Kulturkampf]]'', the Franciscan Chapter of St. [[Elizabeth of Hungary]] fled their monastery in [[Fulda]] and settled at St. Bonaventure's Friary in [[Paterson, New Jersey]]. Although still studying in [[minor seminary]], Joseph Heinrichs emigrated to America with them. On December 4, 1886, Heinrichs entered the Franciscan novitiate at St. Bonaventure's and received the [[monastic name]] Brother Leo. He took his final vows on December 8, 1890, and was ordained to the priesthood on July 26, 1891.<ref name=hnp>[https://hnp.org/who-we-are/our-friars/deceased-friars/leo-heinrichs/ "Leo Heinrichs, OFM", Franciscan Friars, Holy Name Province]</ref>


Between 1891 and 1907, Father Leo served in various positions in the New York and New Jersey area including pastor at Holy Angels parish in Singac ([[Little Falls, New Jersey|Little Falls]]), New Jersey. In April 1902, a fire devastated much of [[Croghan, New York]]. Heinrichs was sent to rebuild the church; the new St. Stephen's was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day 1903.<ref>[https://www.nny360.com/news/fixing-god-s-house/article_818d5153-1fd6-506e-8b3d-ed4ad3beb69b.html Swofford, Stephen. "Fixing God's House", ''Watertown Daily Times'', February 28, 2016]</ref> He was then appointed pastor of the parish of St. Bonaventure in Paterson, New Jersey. While at St. Bonaventure's, there was an outbreak of smallpox in Patterson, during which Heinrichs spent many hours tending the sick and dying.<ref name=schiffer>[http://www.ncregister.com/blog/kschiffer/108-years-ago-this-priests-murder-at-mass-shocked-the-u.s Schiffer, Kathy. "108 Years Ago, This Priest's Murder at Mass Shocked the U.S.", ''National Catholic Register'', August 23, 2016]</ref>
Between 1891 and 1907, Father Leo served in various positions in the New York and New Jersey area including pastor at Holy Angels parish in Singac ([[Little Falls, New Jersey|Little Falls]]), New Jersey. In April 1902, a fire devastated much of [[Croghan, New York]]. Heinrichs was sent to rebuild the church. The new St. Stephen's was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day 1903.<ref>[https://www.nny360.com/news/fixing-god-s-house/article_818d5153-1fd6-506e-8b3d-ed4ad3beb69b.html Swofford, Stephen. "Fixing God's House", ''Watertown Daily Times'', February 28, 2016]</ref> To pay down the debt, Heinrich solicited donations in lumber camps. In a writes to a friend under the date of January 27, 1904 letter to a friend, he describes his travels:<blockquote>I was away to the woods in order to collect among the lumber men. I was away four days each time, and two nights I had to sleep with the men in the camps. The poor fellows have to work so hard early and late and have so little comfort. We drove 100 miles the first trip with the thermometer at zero. The second trip 20 miles one day at 40 degrees below. But covered from head to foot in fur you don’t seem to mind the cold. You have no idea how nice it is to travel through the woods on a clear day when the wind does not disturb the snow. The winter here is the severest that people remember. We had, more or less since the beginning of December, zero to 40 below, and the snowstorms nearly every other day make the roads almost impassable.<ref>[http://www.ststephenscroghan.rcdony.org/index.php/about-st-stephens/st-stephens-church-history "History of Saint Stephen’s Church, Croghan, NY"]</ref></blockquote>


Heinrich was then appointed pastor of the parish of St. Bonaventure in Paterson, New Jersey. While at St. Bonaventure's, there was an outbreak of smallpox in Patterson, during which Heinrichs spent many hours tending the sick and dying.<ref name=schiffer>[http://www.ncregister.com/blog/kschiffer/108-years-ago-this-priests-murder-at-mass-shocked-the-u.s Schiffer, Kathy. "108 Years Ago, This Priest's Murder at Mass Shocked the U.S.", ''National Catholic Register'', August 23, 2016]</ref>
⚫
Heinrichs was then assigned to St. Elizabeth's parish in [[Denver, Colorado]], where he arrived on September 23, 1907. His term as pastor lasted exactly five months. Father Leo received permission to return to Germany to visit his family after an absence of over twenty one years; but he postponed his journey until after June 7, 1908, when he planned to give First Communion to a class of seventy children. A week before his death, he preached at the Young Ladies' [[Sodality]] meeting, remarking, “How sweet it is to die at the feet of Mary.”<ref name=hnp/>

⚫
Heinrichs was assigned to St. Elizabeth's parish in [[Denver, Colorado]], where he arrived on September 23, 1907. As pastor, Heinrichs would distribute food to the poor every morning at the friary gate.<ref>[http://stelizabethdenver.org/welcome/ "History", Parish of St Elizabeth of Hungary]</ref> He had received permission to return to Germany to visit his family after an absence of over twenty one years; but postponed his journey until after June 7, 1908, when he planned to give First Communion to a class of seventy children. A week before his death, he preached at the Young Ladies' [[Sodality]] meeting, remarking, “How sweet it is to die at the feet of Mary.”<ref name=hnp/>


===Death===
===Death===
[[Image:Leo Heinrichs Tod.jpg|thumb|upright|The murder of Fr. Heinrichs, contemporary Illustration]]
[[Image:Leo Heinrichs Tod.jpg|thumb|upright|The murder of Fr. Heinrichs, contemporary Illustration]]
Heinrichs normally celebrated the 8am Sunday Mass, but as he had a meeting scheduled, switched with Father Wulstan Workman to take the 6am "Workingmen's Mass. Among attending Mass was fifty-year-old Giuseppe Alia, an unemployed shoemaker<ref name=nyt>''New York Times'', February 24, 1908.</ref> who had recently emigrated from [[Avola]], [[Sicily]]. Alia took Communion at [[Communion Rail|altar rail]] then flung the Host at the priest and drew a revolver and shot the priest. Heinrichs attempted to retrieve the fallen host and collapsed mortally wounded on the step of the [[Altar of Our Lady]].<ref name=schiffer/>
Heinrichs normally celebrated the 8am Sunday Mass, but on Sunday, February 23, 1908, as he had a meeting scheduled that day, he switched with Father Wulstan Workman to take the 6am "Workingmen's Mass. Among attending Mass was fifty-year-old Giuseppe Alia (aka Giuseppe Guaraccio and Angelo Gabriele),<ref>[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=INR19080229-01.2.29&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA--------0-- "Awful Crime of Anachist", ''Indicator'', Volume 19, Number 4, February 29, 1908]</ref> an unemployed shoemaker<ref name=nyt>''New York Times'', February 24, 1908.</ref> who had recently emigrated from [[Avola]], [[Sicily]]. Alia took Communion at [[Communion Rail|altar rail]] then flung the Host at the priest and drew a revolver and shot the priest. Heinrichs attempted to retrieve the fallen host and collapsed mortally wounded on the step of the [[Altar of Our Lady]].<ref name=schiffer/>


According to Deacon William Joyce, "The coroner found that Father Leo's upper arms and waist were wrapped in leather straps. Each strap was studded with rows of pointed iron hooks, which pierced the skin. Around the priest's waist the skin was calloused and scarred, but showed no sign of infection. Father Leo secretly practiced this extreme form of [[Mortification of the flesh|mortification]], perhaps to help him master his temper. None of his confrères had any idea of his self-inflicted penances. When the friars entered Father Leo's room after his death, they found that he slept on a wooden door."<ref name=Leo/>
According to Deacon William Joyce, "The coroner found that Father Leo's upper arms and waist were wrapped in leather straps. Each strap was studded with rows of pointed iron hooks, which pierced the skin. Around the priest's waist the skin was calloused and scarred, but showed no sign of infection. Father Leo secretly practiced this extreme form of [[Mortification of the flesh|mortification]], perhaps to help him master his temper. None of his confrères had any idea of his self-inflicted penances. When the friars entered Father Leo's room after his death, they found that he slept on a wooden door."<ref name=Leo/>
Line 48: Line 50:


==Aftermath==
==Aftermath==
While attempting to flee, Alia was tripped by parishioner, E.J. Quigley, a conductor for the [[Denver & Rio Grande Railroad]]. Off-duty Denver police officer Daniel Cronin arrested Alia after a brief struggle on the church steps.<ref name=schiffer/>
While attempting to flee, Alia was tripped by parishioner, E.J. Quigley, a conductor for the [[Denver & Rio Grande Railroad]]. Off-duty Denver police officer Daniel Crefin arrested Alia after a brief struggle on the church steps.<ref name=sfc>[https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19080224.2.16&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 "Priest is Killed at the Altar", ''San Francisco Call'', Volume 103, Number 86, 24 February 1908]</ref>


At the police station, Alia reportedly said, "I went over there because I have a grudge against all priests in general. They are all against the workingman. I went to the [[communion rail]] because I could get a better shot. I did not care whether he was a German priest or any other kind of priest...I left Italy three months ago and went first to [[Central America]], and then came to Denver. I am an [[Anarchist]], and I am proud of it. I shot him, and my only regret is that I could not shoot the whole bunch of priests in the church."<ref name=nyt/>
At the police station, Alia reportedly said, "I went over there because I have a grudge against all priests in general. They are all against the workingman. I went to the [[communion rail]] because I could get a better shot. I did not care whether he was a German priest or any other kind of priest...I left Italy three months ago and went first to [[Central America]], and then came to Denver. I am an [[Anarchist]], and I am proud of it. I shot him, and my only regret is that I could not shoot the whole bunch of priests in the church."<ref name=nyt/>


The people of Denver were enraged by Alia's actions and there was even talk of storming the city jail and [[lynching]] him. With this in mind, Denver law enforcement transported Alia to [[Colorado Springs, Colorado|Colorado Springs]] for his own protection.
In the face of rumored threats of summary justice, Denver law enforcement moved Alia to [[Colorado Springs, Colorado|Colorado Springs]] for his own protection.<ref name=sfc/>


Based upon eye-witness testimony and his own confession, Alia was convicted of [[first degree murder]] and sentenced to [[Hanging|death by hanging]] within weeks of the shooting. Alia never expressed any remorse and made two escape attempts from [[death row]]. The first involved the [[attempted murder]] of a prison trustee and the second of the prison's deputy warden. In both cases, however, Alia was overpowered by corrections officers soon after leaving his cell. Denver police officers expressed a belief, however, that local anarchists had smuggled the knives Alia had used into the Colorado State Penitentiary.
Based upon eye-witness testimony and his own confession, Alia was convicted of [[first degree murder]] and sentenced to [[Hanging|death by hanging]] within weeks of the shooting. Alia never expressed any remorse and made two escape attempts from [[death row]]. The first involved the [[attempted murder]] of a prison trustee and the second of the prison's deputy warden. In both cases, however, Alia was overpowered by corrections officers soon after leaving his cell. Denver police officers expressed a belief, however, that local anarchists had smuggled the knives Alia had used into the Colorado State Penitentiary.

Revision as of 21:50, 24 December 2019

Servant of God
Leo Heinrichs, O.F.M.
Rev. Fr. Leo Heinrichs O.F.M.
Priest and Martyr
BornJoseph Heinrichs
(1867-08-15)15 August 1867
Oestrich, Erkelenz, Heinsberg, Germany
Died23 February 1908(1908-02-23) (aged 40)
Denver, Colorado, United States
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church

Father Leo Heinrichs, O.F.M. (August 15, 1867, Oestrich, now a part of the city Erkelenz, Kingdom of Prussia – February 23, 1908, Denver, Colorado, United States) was a Roman Catholic priest of the Franciscan Order. While assigned to St. Elisabeth of Hungary Church in Denver, Colorado, Father Heinrichs was fatally shot while distributing communion. The shooter, a Sicilian Anarchist, later described his motivations as hatred of Catholicism.

Biography

Joseph Heinrichs was born on August 15, 1867, in Oestrich, near Erkelenz, Rhineland, Germany.

Under persecution from Otto von Bismarck's Kulturkampf, the Franciscan Chapter of St. Elizabeth of Hungary fled their monastery in Fulda and settled at St. Bonaventure's Friary in Paterson, New Jersey. Although still studying in minor seminary, Joseph Heinrichs emigrated to America with them. On December 4, 1886, Heinrichs entered the Franciscan novitiate at St. Bonaventure's and received the monastic name Brother Leo. He took his final vows on December 8, 1890, and was ordained to the priesthood on July 26, 1891.[1]

Between 1891 and 1907, Father Leo served in various positions in the New York and New Jersey area including pastor at Holy Angels parish in Singac (Little Falls), New Jersey. In April 1902, a fire devastated much of Croghan, New York. Heinrichs was sent to rebuild the church. The new St. Stephen's was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day 1903.[2] To pay down the debt, Heinrich solicited donations in lumber camps. In a writes to a friend under the date of January 27, 1904 letter to a friend, he describes his travels:

I was away to the woods in order to collect among the lumber men. I was away four days each time, and two nights I had to sleep with the men in the camps. The poor fellows have to work so hard early and late and have so little comfort. We drove 100 miles the first trip with the thermometer at zero. The second trip 20 miles one day at 40 degrees below. But covered from head to foot in fur you don’t seem to mind the cold. You have no idea how nice it is to travel through the woods on a clear day when the wind does not disturb the snow. The winter here is the severest that people remember. We had, more or less since the beginning of December, zero to 40 below, and the snowstorms nearly every other day make the roads almost impassable.[3]

Heinrich was then appointed pastor of the parish of St. Bonaventure in Paterson, New Jersey. While at St. Bonaventure's, there was an outbreak of smallpox in Patterson, during which Heinrichs spent many hours tending the sick and dying.[4]

Heinrichs was assigned to St. Elizabeth's parish in Denver, Colorado, where he arrived on September 23, 1907. As pastor, Heinrichs would distribute food to the poor every morning at the friary gate.[5] He had received permission to return to Germany to visit his family after an absence of over twenty one years; but postponed his journey until after June 7, 1908, when he planned to give First Communion to a class of seventy children. A week before his death, he preached at the Young Ladies' Sodality meeting, remarking, “How sweet it is to die at the feet of Mary.”[1]

Death

The murder of Fr. Heinrichs, contemporary Illustration

Heinrichs normally celebrated the 8am Sunday Mass, but on Sunday, February 23, 1908, as he had a meeting scheduled that day, he switched with Father Wulstan Workman to take the 6am "Workingmen's Mass. Among attending Mass was fifty-year-old Giuseppe Alia (aka Giuseppe Guaraccio and Angelo Gabriele),[6] an unemployed shoemaker[7] who had recently emigrated from Avola, Sicily. Alia took Communion at altar rail then flung the Host at the priest and drew a revolver and shot the priest. Heinrichs attempted to retrieve the fallen host and collapsed mortally wounded on the step of the Altar of Our Lady.[4]

According to Deacon William Joyce, "The coroner found that Father Leo's upper arms and waist were wrapped in leather straps. Each strap was studded with rows of pointed iron hooks, which pierced the skin. Around the priest's waist the skin was calloused and scarred, but showed no sign of infection. Father Leo secretly practiced this extreme form of mortification, perhaps to help him master his temper. None of his confrères had any idea of his self-inflicted penances. When the friars entered Father Leo's room after his death, they found that he slept on a wooden door."[8]

Father Wulstan Workman, who had switched with Father Leo for the later Mass, administered the Last Rites. Father Wulstan told the Denver Post, "I would have been killed and he would be alive now. There is one way to solve the affair that I can see, and that is that God chose the better man."[8]

Aftermath

While attempting to flee, Alia was tripped by parishioner, E.J. Quigley, a conductor for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Off-duty Denver police officer Daniel Crefin arrested Alia after a brief struggle on the church steps.[9]

At the police station, Alia reportedly said, "I went over there because I have a grudge against all priests in general. They are all against the workingman. I went to the communion rail because I could get a better shot. I did not care whether he was a German priest or any other kind of priest...I left Italy three months ago and went first to Central America, and then came to Denver. I am an Anarchist, and I am proud of it. I shot him, and my only regret is that I could not shoot the whole bunch of priests in the church."[7]

In the face of rumored threats of summary justice, Denver law enforcement moved Alia to Colorado Springs for his own protection.[9]

Based upon eye-witness testimony and his own confession, Alia was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death by hanging within weeks of the shooting. Alia never expressed any remorse and made two escape attempts from death row. The first involved the attempted murder of a prison trustee and the second of the prison's deputy warden. In both cases, however, Alia was overpowered by corrections officers soon after leaving his cell. Denver police officers expressed a belief, however, that local anarchists had smuggled the knives Alia had used into the Colorado State Penitentiary.

Following Alia's first escape attempt, the Italian Consul, Baron Gustavo Tosti, was interviewed. The Baron expressed a belief that Alia's behavior proved him to be mentally deranged. Even so, the Baron declared, "I have no intention of appealing to the Italian Government, or of trying to make this an international affair. It is purely a local case."[10]

Despite the pleas of the Franciscan Order, Giuseppe Alia was hanged on July 15, 1908 at the Colorado State Penitentiary in Cañon City. The Washington Herald reported Alia's execution as follows,

He went to the gallows fighting, biting, and snarling. The night noises of the penitentiary had died away, when Warden Cleghorn summoned the murderer from his cell, and through an interpreter, told him that the hour of his death had arrived. Alia stood for just a moment glaring at the warden and the attendants. Then he raised his head, uttered a string of oaths, and offered his best physical resistance to accompanying the guards to the gallows. The murderer was held by the warden's assistants until he had exhausted himself; then he was supported to the trap, where the noose was adjusted and he was hanged.[11]

Legacy

Following his murder, the body of Father Leo Heinrichs was transported by rail to St. Bonaventure's Monastery in Paterson, New Jersey. Thousands of people, including large numbers of non-Catholics, attended his wake and requiem mass. Father Leo was then buried in Totowa, New Jersey's Holy Sepulchre Roman Catholic Cemetery.[12] Father Leo Heinrichs rests in the same cemetery as Father Mychal Judge, a fellow Holy Name Province Franciscan who was killed in the September 11th terrorist attacks.

Father Leo's cause for beatification was opened in 1938 and his grave continues to be visited by pilgrims.

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary parish continues to serve the Roman Catholic Church,[13] while also ministering to Denver's Russian Catholics.

In his native city of Erkelenz, there is a street named for Fr. Leo Heinrichs.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b "Leo Heinrichs, OFM", Franciscan Friars, Holy Name Province
  2. ^ Swofford, Stephen. "Fixing God's House", Watertown Daily Times, February 28, 2016
  3. ^ "History of Saint Stephen’s Church, Croghan, NY"
  4. ^ a b Schiffer, Kathy. "108 Years Ago, This Priest's Murder at Mass Shocked the U.S.", National Catholic Register, August 23, 2016
  5. ^ "History", Parish of St Elizabeth of Hungary
  6. ^ "Awful Crime of Anachist", Indicator, Volume 19, Number 4, February 29, 1908
  7. ^ a b New York Times, February 24, 1908.
  8. ^ a b "Leo Heinrich, O.F.M." Five Franciscan Martyrs Region Secular Franciscan Order.
  9. ^ a b "Priest is Killed at the Altar", San Francisco Call, Volume 103, Number 86, 24 February 1908
  10. ^ New York Times, March 15, 1908.
  11. ^ Washington Herald, July 16, 1908, Page 1.
  12. ^ All Creeds Honor Murdered Priest, New York Times, March 2, 1908
  13. ^ St. Elizabeth of Hungary parish (Denver, Colorado) website
  14. ^ Leo-Heinrichs-Weg in D-41812 Erkelenz

External links

  • Michele Presutto, "Senza timore di Dio. La storia di Giuseppe Alia" [1], "ASEI-Archivio Storico dell'Emigrazione Italiana", marzo 2018, n.16, pp. 27–40;
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