Josef Mayr-Nusser

From 1932, Josef Mayr-Nusser became actively involved in the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, becoming president of the Bolzano section in 1937. He personally visited impoverished families to provide them with material and spiritual support. In 1934, he was appointed president of the men's branch of the Catholic Action youth for the German-speaking part of the Diocese of Trento, encouraging the youth through the magazine Jugendwacht. During the Second World War, he opposed National Socialist ideology and joined the clandestine resistance movement Andreas-Hofer-Bund.

Forcibly enlisted in the Waffen-SS in September 1944, Josef Mayr-Nusser was sent to Konitz for his training. On October 4, 1944, he publicly refused to swear an oath to Adolf Hitler out of fidelity to his Christian faith. Immediately arrested and imprisoned in Danzig, he was sentenced to death and destined for the Dachau concentration camp. During his transfer by train, weakened by mistreatment and dysentery, he died of exhaustion on February 24, 1945, near Erlangen, with a Bible and a rosary in his possession.

The cause for beatification was opened at the diocesan level on February 24, 2006, in the Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone and concluded on March 19, 2007. On July 8, 2016, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing his martyrdom in odium fidei. The beatification ceremony was celebrated on March 18, 2017, in the Cathedral of Bolzano, presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato, representing Pope Francis.

Nicknamed the 'Martyr of the First Commandment,' Josef Mayr-Nusser placed his conscience, enlightened by the Gospel, above all else, preferring to die rather than renounce his fidelity to Christ. Pope Francis has presented him as a model for laypeople and fathers of families. His relics rest in the Cathedral of Bolzano. The cities of Bolzano and Erlangen have twinned to honor his testimony of peace and resistance to injustice.