A Franciscan’s Way of the Cross on D-Day 1944

With a brisk and determined step Friar Ignatius Maternowski went to meet his German colleague.

Sometime later, to everyone’s surprise, Friar Ignatius arrived accompanied by the German (nurse) Major. The Friar-Chaplain showed his guest the entire house and took note of the pressing need for another field hospital. They departed together, to requisition an additional building. In the mind and heart of Friar Ignatius, he had found a companion who, according to the rules of the Geneva Convention, was willing to declare Gueutteville a protected medical zone, thereby ensuring the safety of his fellow soldiers who were wounded and the noncombatants.

Then, probably more out of courtesy than out of caution, Friar Ignatius, unarmed with his helmet secured on his belt and Red Cross armband on his left arm, accompanied the Major back to the high point of the village. As the colleagues parted company, either the German Major using his revolver or a nearby sniper, shot Friar Ignatius in the back. He fell by the road and died, his head lying in the shallow stream running along the fence line. Despite numerous requests from the local population, the Germans refused to allow anyone to touch the body of Friar Ignatius. His earthly remains lay there for three days, until the arrival of allied troops and the withdraw of the German units. To be continued –

 – friar Michael Lasky OFM Conv.