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The Lion of Munster: The Bishop Who Roared Against the Nazis
“The dear God placed me in a position in which I had a duty to call black 'black' and white 'white'.” These words were spoken by Cardinal Clemens August von Galen, the bishop of the diocese of Münster in Germany from 1933 to 1946. In so doing, he risked death at the hands of the Nazis, one Gestapo leader even urging that he be publicly hanged. Joseph Goebbels and others in the Nazi leadership, knowing the bishop’s popularity, advised waiting, subscribing to the adage that “revenge is a dish best served cold.”
In this, the definitive English language biography of the great Lion of Münster, readers will encounter the young von Galen as he learns the Catholic faith and love of the fatherland from his family, members of the German aristocracy. A nobleman, a “prince” of his people and of his Church, the boy grew into a man, a six-and-a-half-foot tall giant of a man, who, though he loved his homeland, loved God, His Church and His law even more; for he knew that calling his homeland back to the ways of God is the one way in which a bishop can best demonstrate that love for the people under his spiritual care. And so, in three magnificent sermons and countless other speeches, communiques and gestures, the Lion roared.
This story of his life and his stirring words provides readers with an indispensable glimpse into the confrontation between Church and State in Hitler’s Germany and will serve as a reminder to all men and women of good will of the duty to call black ‘black’ and white ‘white.’
In this, the definitive English language biography of the great Lion of Münster, readers will encounter the young von Galen as he learns the Catholic faith and love of the fatherland from his family, members of the German aristocracy. A nobleman, a “prince” of his people and of his Church, the boy grew into a man, a six-and-a-half-foot tall giant of a man, who, though he loved his homeland, loved God, His Church and His law even more; for he knew that calling his homeland back to the ways of God is the one way in which a bishop can best demonstrate that love for the people under his spiritual care. And so, in three magnificent sermons and countless other speeches, communiques and gestures, the Lion roared.
This story of his life and his stirring words provides readers with an indispensable glimpse into the confrontation between Church and State in Hitler’s Germany and will serve as a reminder to all men and women of good will of the duty to call black ‘black’ and white ‘white.’
374 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 2, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 12, 2023
This is a part of WW2 history that I was not previously aware of. Bishop von Galen boldly opposed the Nazis before and during WW2, and also stood for the rights of Germans under the Allied occupation. I doubt a Protestant could have spoken so boldly without being sent off to a concentration camp; Bishop von Galen was not arrested because of the love of the people of Münster for him.
The German perspective made this an interesting take on WW2. Bishop von Galen was unequivocally against the Nazis, but he was also for the German military success. The inhumanity of the bombing of civilian targets is highlighted in one of the Allied attacks on Münster, where many civilians, including a large number of nuns were killed. The rationale was the Germans had killed civilians, and so the German civilians needed to suffer as well. Certainly not in line with just war theory.
A good read about a brave man.
The German perspective made this an interesting take on WW2. Bishop von Galen was unequivocally against the Nazis, but he was also for the German military success. The inhumanity of the bombing of civilian targets is highlighted in one of the Allied attacks on Münster, where many civilians, including a large number of nuns were killed. The rationale was the Germans had killed civilians, and so the German civilians needed to suffer as well. Certainly not in line with just war theory.
A good read about a brave man.
May 26, 2021
Great read. Really interesting story of the Catholic Bishop of a heavily concentrated areas of German Catholics. The story is unique of how this Bishop while wanting to stay true to his German roots although fought Nazis who were stripping away the Christian foundation of the country. The Bishop openly defied leaders and it's a true testament to the strong faith of the region that he was not killed or imprisoned like other faith leaders. As bombs dropped he remarked that Germans had to fight enemies both inside and outside of Germany. Good read and interesting perspective.
March 29, 2020
The writing is dull and repetitive. As others have noted, the portrait of the Bishop is one-dimensional and absurdly lauditory. He was not an opponent of the Nazi party's destructive politics or its wars of agrression, but only of its secularism.
February 17, 2021
Fantastic. Very, very well-written, factual but not dry or excessively scholarly.
July 15, 2021
An excellent book on a courageous bishop and a true shepherd of his flock. This is not a “Scarlet and the Black” style adventure adventure.
May 15, 2020
This book carefully traces the history of Count Von Galen and places his action in their correct historical place. His arguments are rich and closely supported by the contemporary historical evidence. It is perhaps a little difficult to write about a bishop who roared against the nazi’s without sounding slightly hagiographic. The charges that this book is purely for Roman Catholic’s is untrue.
August 17, 2018
A must read for bishops and the faithful
An amazing telling of the life of the Lion of Munster. God calls those heroes of the faith in every generation. I pray for them now.
An amazing telling of the life of the Lion of Munster. God calls those heroes of the faith in every generation. I pray for them now.
June 15, 2019
Brilliant book! Wonderfully written and incredibly engaging. Highly recommend.
July 29, 2020
Good biography
A very good biography, and a side of history from World War II and the Catholic Church rarely heard of..
A very good biography, and a side of history from World War II and the Catholic Church rarely heard of..
October 7, 2023
The records of the letters and speeches included were thorough, and create many underutilized opportunities for reflection on ingenuities and apparent incongruities in the Catholic belief, particularly in regards to the frequently mentioned God given right of authority and the objective foundations of law. There is very little in the way of expostulation or exposition from the author or any other voices- The Lion of Münster may be printed as an "aid" for evangelization (St. Benedict Press), but leaving out any form of debate or third party perspective works against its case under scrutiny, especially when Clemens August himself had so much to say regarding propaganda.
I say this out of exasperation that so many of the Bishop's arguments lauded by Utrect were entirely sound without requiring the invocation of God: Since it really isn't difficult to condemn Nazis, I'd have appreciated a second look at von Galen's philosophical foundations ("first principles").
Despite the evasion of discourse, the biography was painstakingly compiled... Unfortunately, neither father Utrect nor his editor are gifted prose stylists; many a paragraph lilts clumsily to a repetitive conclusion, and several entire sections felt either rehashed or phoned-in. I wish the book was written with the same passion that it was researched (the appendix shows evidence of the great lengths to which the topic was plumbed, I lament that the rest of the book did not carry the same scholarly and objective tone). For an example, take the line, "He did not know that that would be the day he would die." It sounds like a middle school essay.
Fundamentally, von Galen was a deeply interesting and important character in WWII history; his expansion on the Catholic philosophy, and his stalwart bravery, and even his self-destructive wish for martyrdom would seem the perfect "Hail Mary" for a classic biography; but Utrect simply dropped the ball with poor writing, one-sidedness, dull repetition, lacking character analysis and very poor handling of suspense and pacing. A good choice of you need to write a middle school book report, I can't recommend it for much else.
I say this out of exasperation that so many of the Bishop's arguments lauded by Utrect were entirely sound without requiring the invocation of God: Since it really isn't difficult to condemn Nazis, I'd have appreciated a second look at von Galen's philosophical foundations ("first principles").
Despite the evasion of discourse, the biography was painstakingly compiled... Unfortunately, neither father Utrect nor his editor are gifted prose stylists; many a paragraph lilts clumsily to a repetitive conclusion, and several entire sections felt either rehashed or phoned-in. I wish the book was written with the same passion that it was researched (the appendix shows evidence of the great lengths to which the topic was plumbed, I lament that the rest of the book did not carry the same scholarly and objective tone). For an example, take the line, "He did not know that that would be the day he would die." It sounds like a middle school essay.
Fundamentally, von Galen was a deeply interesting and important character in WWII history; his expansion on the Catholic philosophy, and his stalwart bravery, and even his self-destructive wish for martyrdom would seem the perfect "Hail Mary" for a classic biography; but Utrect simply dropped the ball with poor writing, one-sidedness, dull repetition, lacking character analysis and very poor handling of suspense and pacing. A good choice of you need to write a middle school book report, I can't recommend it for much else.
March 29, 2019
This is an OK but still too apologetic bio, using that word in something halfway between its everyday sense and its Christian religious sense.
Even without Utrecht ignoring Galen's 1943 sermon that the Nazis reportedly used to recruit some Dutch men to join the SS (Wikipedia: https://www.savannahnow.com/news/2019...) it is still clear that Galen was OK with many aspects of Nazism as long as it left the Catholic Church reasonably alone and fought Commies. This, of course, was the stance of Galen's boss, Pope Pius XII. For both, there's evidence it carried into the postwar period as well. Galen's death in 1946 kept him from being even more on the record on this.
Galen's stances against the Hitler regime were mainly about when it DID infringe on Catholic doctrines or its relative freedom of action on church schools and related praxis. He was not anti-Jewish, but like his boss, had no specific condemnation of the Holocaust as holocaust. He did condemn unnecessary killings and lack of justice in Nazi Germany in general, but that was it.
Beyond being anti-Bolshevik, Galen was otherwise anti-secularist in general. His 1946 death also allowed him to escape confrontation with the post-WWII Federal Republic.
I was originally going to 3-star this, but, thought that beyond Catholic faithful, there's not enough to give it more than 2.
Even without Utrecht ignoring Galen's 1943 sermon that the Nazis reportedly used to recruit some Dutch men to join the SS (Wikipedia: https://www.savannahnow.com/news/2019...) it is still clear that Galen was OK with many aspects of Nazism as long as it left the Catholic Church reasonably alone and fought Commies. This, of course, was the stance of Galen's boss, Pope Pius XII. For both, there's evidence it carried into the postwar period as well. Galen's death in 1946 kept him from being even more on the record on this.
Galen's stances against the Hitler regime were mainly about when it DID infringe on Catholic doctrines or its relative freedom of action on church schools and related praxis. He was not anti-Jewish, but like his boss, had no specific condemnation of the Holocaust as holocaust. He did condemn unnecessary killings and lack of justice in Nazi Germany in general, but that was it.
Beyond being anti-Bolshevik, Galen was otherwise anti-secularist in general. His 1946 death also allowed him to escape confrontation with the post-WWII Federal Republic.
I was originally going to 3-star this, but, thought that beyond Catholic faithful, there's not enough to give it more than 2.
January 6, 2023
Blessed Bishop Clemens August Graf Count von Galen is up there with Saint Maximilian Kolbe & Dietrich Bonhoeffer when it comes to brave German-Christian opposition to the Third Reich.
Born into an aristocratic German-Catholic family, Von Galen would go on to become Bishop of Munster and earn the sobriquet "Lion of the Munster" during the Second World War.
His widely distributed 1941 sermons denouncing the Hitler Regime's various crimes earned him
popular acclaim across the Catholic world. The most famous sermons were issued at the zenish of Hitler's power & popularity. Had the people of Munster not been so devoted to Bishop Von Galen the Reich would have ordered his death & planned to do so after the war had safely been won.
Great short read for anyone interested in WWII or Catholic History.
Born into an aristocratic German-Catholic family, Von Galen would go on to become Bishop of Munster and earn the sobriquet "Lion of the Munster" during the Second World War.
His widely distributed 1941 sermons denouncing the Hitler Regime's various crimes earned him
popular acclaim across the Catholic world. The most famous sermons were issued at the zenish of Hitler's power & popularity. Had the people of Munster not been so devoted to Bishop Von Galen the Reich would have ordered his death & planned to do so after the war had safely been won.
Great short read for anyone interested in WWII or Catholic History.
October 4, 2017
The book is a touch hagiographic for my taste. At times it seems that the author uses the life of the von Galen both as the subject of the story and as a way to contrast the Catholic theology of governance and society vs the Nazi ideology. Von Galen was bishop during the years of Nazi Germany. For that reason, the book is worthy as a look at how Nazi ideology dealt with religion, how at least one senior member of the Catholic clergy responded, and finally how Catholic theology deals and understands the power of governance in general, even if in a basic way. If this era of history is of interest to you, the book is worth your time.
March 29, 2020
I would have liked to learn more about this interesting priest/bishop at this difficult time in history. His sermons were covered in great depth (often twice), but I didn’t get a good sense of the person he was. It felt superficial. That being said, l generally liked the book.
May 17, 2024
The writing is very documentary style, it can drag for a while but the story is fascinating. By the end I was sad it was over, and sad to part with the Bishop! I got a sense of comfort from him, maybe a longing to be like him. Needless to say it was very inspiring!
April 2, 2018
Thought-provoking in terms of the growing power of the state and one's moral obligation to obey a legitimate government - relevant for today.
March 18, 2023
Interesting story about a truly holy man of God.
December 31, 2016
I can't say enough about this book. If you love stories about courageous mea and women fighting against evil then you will love this book. It's about August Clemens Graf von Galen, the Bishop of Munster from 1933, the year Hitler rose to power, till 1946, one year after the Nazi regime imploded. Von Galen put himself in serious danger by becoming a thorn in the Nazis side. He is best know for his speaking out against euthanasia but he also took on the regime over many other issues. I love books about heroic Germans because they faced the ultimate punishment for speaking out. We forget that the Catholic Church had a big target on its back and had the Nazis won the Church would have be altered beyond recognition under the Nazis. This is not just an important read but an exciting and excellent read.
April 6, 2018
I purchased and read this book after discovering the history of the Fatima mysteries and becoming interested in the history of the WWII-era Catholic Church, particularly in Nazi Germany. This book is primarily a wartime biography of Bishop Clemens August von Galen during his episcopate from 1933, up until his appointment as a cardinal and subsequent death in 1946. It is particularly valuable as a picture into National Socialist persecution of Catholics (and Judeo-Christians at large), and how the Church struggled against it and survived in spite of it.
Secondarily, it's a tremendous look at how strong the faith was in Germany (and the Church as a whole) at that time, and how well it insulated the common people against the horrors perpetrated by both Axis and Allied powers during the war.
Utrecht's work is very well-cited, contains a large and effectively-written appendix, and features numerous sermons by von Galen in their entirety. While it is dry from time to time if one isn't interested in the workings of the clergy, Catholic education, and political dealings, it paints a very inspiring and powerful picture of one of the most humble and indomitable bishops of the 20th century.
Secondarily, it's a tremendous look at how strong the faith was in Germany (and the Church as a whole) at that time, and how well it insulated the common people against the horrors perpetrated by both Axis and Allied powers during the war.
Utrecht's work is very well-cited, contains a large and effectively-written appendix, and features numerous sermons by von Galen in their entirety. While it is dry from time to time if one isn't interested in the workings of the clergy, Catholic education, and political dealings, it paints a very inspiring and powerful picture of one of the most humble and indomitable bishops of the 20th century.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews