World War II gave the Church many martyrs, among them St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (also known as St. Edith Stein), and today's saint, Bl. Franz Jaegerstaetter, an Austrian farmer who refused to fight on behalf of Germany. Bl. Jaegerstaetter opposed the Anchluss, or annexation, of Austria by Germany. He was drafted, trained, and then received deferments three times. However, when he was drafted in 1943 he refused to take a loyalty oath to Hitler, was imprisoned for six months and was then beheaded and cremated on August 9. His ashes were reburied in 1946 and he was beatified in 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI.
There were Catholics in Germany and Austria who served in the German army. Bl. Jaegerstaetter's own pastor and bishop also encouraged him to serve if drafted. He refused, telling his attorney: “I can only act on my own conscience. I do not judge anyone. I can only judge myself. I have considered my family. I have prayed and put myself and my family in God’s hands. I know that, if I do what I think God wants me to do, he will take care of my family.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church guides us with regards to conscience: "Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment. . . . For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God. . . . His conscience is man's most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths" (1776). "When he listens to his conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking" (1777). We are all called to form and follow our consciences just as Bl. Franz Jaegerstaetter did and let God guide us and give us his grace to do his will.
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