THE SERVANT OF GOD VICTRICIUS
WEISS
Confessor,
First Order
Father Victricius gives us his own
biography in a prayer which he wrote:
"I
consecrate myself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. With my hidden Jesus I wish to remain
unknown, misrepresented, and despised. I want to be crucified in body and soul with my
crucified Saviour, in order to atone in some way for the insults rendered Him in the most
holy Sacrament of the altar. I want to rejoice with my glorified Jesus because He cannot
now suffer any more. But I may suffer. I want to offer up all my sufferings for the
intentions of His Sacred Heart."
Father
Victricius was born in 1842 in the little town of Eggenfelden in northern Bavaria, the son
of a deeply religious surgeon. He made his classical studies in Munich; and he studied
theology in Freising. During these years he felt a great attraction for the interior life.
After his ordination to the priesthood in 1866, he labored as a chaplain in Schwabing and
was then appointed prefect and professor of homiletics in the seminary at Freising. In
1871 he received his doctorate in theology.
Although
he was very genial and sociable in his dealings with others, he devoted himself resolutely
to meditation, self-conquest, and a life of sacrifice. In 1875 he joined the Capuchin
Order; and his brethren chose him five times as the head of the Bavarian province. He
achieved remarkable results by his exemplary life, the spirit of recollection, and
fraternal charity.
From
the year 1908, he dwelt in the convent of Vilsbiburg. There he had to suffer much.
Deafness, sleeplessness, ulcers, spiritual dryness and desolation, difficulties arising
from association with others provided a severe trial for him. But all this only caused him
to grow all the more in virtue.
On
October 8, 1924, his holy life of atonement came to a close. He was generally regarded as
a saint, and the process of his beatil3cation is now being carried on in Rome. (Cf. Forum,
1953,
ON
THE MERITS OF ATONEMENT
1.
The idea of atonement is as old as mankind. It is innate in man. Civil and ecclesiastical
authority no less than private individuals in their relations with one another justly
require that some form of penalty make up for offenses committed. The penally, however,
may be canceled if the misdeed is atoned for. It was therefore laudable on the part of
Father Victricius that he offered himself to God as a victim of atonement for the sins of
mankind. For if atonement is in order among men, the supreme majesty of almighty God is a
thousand times more deserving of it. — Try to realize the propriety of the idea of atonement.
2.
Atonement has been required by God Himself, especially in the laws requiring propitiatory
offerings and in the great feast of the Atonement. Both institutions were to prefigure the
supreme expiation of the God-man on Golgotha, of which St. John speaks as "the
propitiation of our sins" (1 Jn. 4,10). How pleasing to God, therefore, Father
Victricius must have been when he offered himself in union with Christ to the Most High in
atonement for the misdeeds of mankind! — Should his heroic example not
inspire us to make frequent acts of atonement?
3.
The idea of atonement must be revived in our day. Our times are like those of which the
Prophet of Patmos writes: "Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has
come down unto you having great wrath" (Apoc. 12,12). Diabolical crimes that cry to
heaven for vengeance are being committed on every hand. God is forcefully thrust out of
Society. So it behooves all good people to emulate the spirit of Father Victricius,
seeking by prayer, penance, and renunciation to disarm the just wrath of God.
PRAYER
OF THE CHURCH
o God, who
by sin art offended, but by penance pacified: graciously look upon the humble prayers of
Thy people, and ward off the scourges of Thy wrath which we have deserved for our sins.
Through
Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Reprinted from "The Franciscan Book of
Saints" by Marion A. Habig O.F.M.
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