How a Young Catholic Became a Lasting Witness Against Nazi Evil

The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising opened the cause for canonization for Willi Graf in 2017. Graf, a Catholic medical student who died in 1943, is currently titled Servant of God. If the Vatican finds he lived a life of heroic virtue, he will receive the title Venerable.

Born in 1918 in Kuchenheim, Germany, Graf grew up in Saarbrücken, where he served as an altar server at St. Johann Basilica. As a teenager, he refused to join the Hitler Youth and instead participated in banned Catholic youth groups. In 1935, he joined a May Day Parade in Saarbrücken with friends.

During the Nazi era, Graf was faced with a choice to betray members of the anti-Hitler resistance or face death. He chose silence and was eventually executed at age 25. Deborah Lee Prescott, author of Holy Idealist: Willi Graf, Hero of the White Rose, described Graf as a hero who acted on convictions rooted in his Catholic upbringing.