Vatican to Beatify Priest Who Died in Dachau After Sheltering Italian Jews
Father Giuseppe Girotti was one of 1,500 priests to die in German camp.
An Italian priest who died in Dachau after being sent there for sheltering Jews is about to be beatified by the Vatican.
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Father Giuseppe Girotti will receive the title "Blessed," one level below sainthood, in a ceremony in the Italian town of Alba on Saturday.
Girotti, born in 1905, saw his rise in the church hierarchy blunted as he became known for his anti-fascist sympathies during Mussolini's rule. Giving shelter to Jews in Italy, he was arrested in 1944 after falling for a trap set by the Nazis to save the son of a Jewish professor.
Deported to Dachau, Girotti died there of cancer on Easter 1945 – one of some 1,500 priests whose lives ended in the German concentration camp.