Pater Rupert Mayer Gedenktag katholisch: 1. November
nicht gebotener Gedenktag im deutschen Sprachgebiet: 3. November
gebotener Gedenktag im Bistum München-Freising: 3. November
Diözesankalender Augsburg, Freiburg i.Br., Hildesheim,
Osnabrück, Regensburg, Speyer, Würzburg
nicht gebotener Gedenktag im Bistum Eichstätt: 5. November

Ordensmann, Priester
* 23. Januar 1876 in Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg
† 1. November 1945 in München in Bayern

Rupert Mayer wuchs in Stuttgart auf, besuchte das Gymnasium, studierte Philosophie und Theologie in Freiburg, München und Tübingen, bis er 1899 zum Priester geweiht wurde. 1900 trat er in Feldkirch in Vorarlberg dem Jesuitenorden bei, ab 1906 zog er als Volksmissionar durch die Schweiz, Deutschland und die Niederlande. 1912 kam er als Männerseelsorger nach München, 1914 ging er als Soldatenseelsorger an die Fronten des 1. Weltkrieges und wurde als erster Feldgeistlicher mit dem Eisernen Kreuz ausgezeichnet: er hatte sich eine lebensgefährliche Verletzung zugezogen, weil er sich schützend über einen schwer verletzten Soldaten gebeugt hatte; ein Bein musste ihm amputiert werden.

In den restlichen Kriegsjahren predigte Rupert Mayer wieder in München. 1921 wurde er Präses der Marianischen Männerkongregation, in den 20-er Jahren galt er als die Stimme der Katholiken in München. Schon früh erkannte er die Gefahren des heraufziehenden Nationalsozialismus und warnte vor dieser Bewegung. Im Januar 1937 wurde er dann von den Nazis erstmals verhaftet, schließlich wegen einer Predigt zu sechs Monaten Haft verurteilt. Wegen konsprativer Kontakte wurde er im November 1939 erneut verhaftet, mehrfach verurteilt und sieben Monate im Konzentrationslager in Sachsenhausen - heute ein Stadtteil von Oranienburg in Brandenburg - in Isolationshaft gehalten. 1940 wurde er freigelassen mit der Auflage eines Predigtverbotes, die fünf Jahre bis zum Ende des Krieges verbrachte er isoliert und unter Bewachung durch die GeStaPo im Kloster Ettal. Nach Kriegsende wirkte er wieder als Seelsorger in München und wurde als der 15. Nothelfer bezeichnet. Aber er war auch am Ende seiner Lebenskräfte, am Allerheiligentag starb er während der Messe vor dem Altar der Kreuzkapelle in der Münchner Michaelskirche.

Rupert Mayer wurde zuerst auf dem Ordensfriedhof in Pullach bei München beigesetzt, sein Grab war schnell eine von Zehntausenden besuchte Wallfahrtsstätte. Am 23. Mai 1948 wurden seine Gebeine in die Unterkirche der Bürgersaalkirche der Marianischen Männerkongregation in München überführt, Zehntausende gaben dabei das Geleit, bis zum heutigen Tag wird seine letzte Ruhestätte stark besucht.

Kanonisation: Rupert Mayer wurde 1987 durch Papst Johannes Paul II. bei dessen zweitem Deutschlandbesuch im Olympiastadion in München als Priester standhaften Glaubens seliggesprochen.

Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon noch nicht online

www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienR/Rupert_Mayer.html

Rupert Mayer (23 January 1876 – 1 November 1945) was a German, Jesuit priest and a leading figure of the Catholic Widerstand in the Third Reich in Munich. In 1987 he was beatified by Pope John Paul II.
Rupert Mayer was born and grew up in Stuttgart, Germany. His family was involved in business. He had a brother and four sisters. He was a very talented violinist and horse rider in his youth. Rupert finished his secondary education in 1894 and studied philosophy and theology in Freiburg, Switzerland; Munich and Tübingen. He was, among other things, a member of A.V. Guestfalia Tübingen and K.D.St.V. Aenania München, two Studentenverbindungen that belong to the Cartellverband der katholischen deutschen Studentenverbindungen.
In 1899, he was ordained a priest and joined the Society of Jesus in Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, Austria (then Austria-Hungary) in 1900. From 1906, he moved about Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands as a People's Commissioner.
From 1914, Fr. Mayer was a volunteered chaplain in the First World War. He was initially assigned to a military hospital; however, he wished to be closer to the soldiers and was sent to the fronts in France, Poland and Romania as chaplain to a division of soldiers. He was held in great esteem by both Catholic and non-Catholic soldiers. When there was fighting at the front Fr. Mayer would be found himself crawling along the ground from one soldier to the next talking to them, listening to them and administering the Sacraments to them. When he was warned that he was putting his own life in danger through such activities, he replied simply, My life is in God's hands. In December 1915 Fr. Mayer was the first chaplain to win the Iron Cross for bravery in recognition of his work with the soldiers at the front. In December 1916, he lost his left leg after it was injured in a grenade attack. He returned to Munich to convalesce and was referred to as the Limping Priest.
He worked managing a clerical retreat, as a preacher, and as of 1921 as a leader of the Marian Congregation in Munich. In 1937, he found himself in "protective custody" for six months, and for seven months after that, he was in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He was released from there on the condition of a broad ban on preaching. Until the liberation by the US forces in May 1945, he lived Ettal Abbey. An American Officer returned him to Munich, where he received a hero's welcome.
Father Rupert Mayer died on his feet on 1 November 1945 of a stroke, while he was celebrating 8:00 AM Mass, on the feast of All Saints' Day in St. Michael's in Munich. Facing the congregation, THE LORD, THE LORD, THE LORD. These were his last words.
Accompanied by thousands of mourners, Fr. Mayer was first buried at the Jesuitenfriedhof in Pullach. Due to the steady stream of pilgrims, his remains were moved to Munich in 1948 and were reburied in the Unterkirche of the Bürgersaalkirche, where his continued popularity as a Bavarian hero and intercessor is documented.

Iron Cross medal of Fr. Rupert Mayer, exhibited in the Bürgersaalkirche of Munich
Protest against the Nazis
In January 1933 when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, he showed his true face and began to close church-affiliated schools and started a campaign to defame the religious orders in Germany. Fr. Mayer spoke out against this persecution from the pulpit of St. Michael's in downtown Munich and because he was a powerful influence in the city, the Nazis could not tolerate such a force to oppose them. On 16 May 1937, the Gestapo to ordered Fr. Mayer to stop speaking in public which he obeyed, but he continued to preach in church. Fr. Rupert Mayer spoke out against anti-Catholic baiting campaigns and fought against Nazi church policy. He preached that Man must obey God more than men. His protests against the Nazis landed him several times in Landsberg prison (the same jail in which Hitler spent almost 6 months after the Beer Hall Putsch in 1924), and in Sachsenhausen concentration camp under the Kanzelparagraphen, a series of 19th-century laws that forbade the clergy to make political. From late 1940, he was interned in Ettal Monastery, mainly because the Nazis were afraid that he would die in the concentration camp, and thereby become a martyr.
Fr. Rupert Mayer resolutely spoke out against the Nazi régime's evil in his lectures and sermons. Before the Sondergericht – one of Hitler's "special courts" – he declared Despite the speaking ban imposed on me, I shall preach further, even if the state authorities deem my pulpit speeches to be punishable acts and a misuse of the pulpit. His time in prison and the concentration camp had taken its toll, as had the enforced inactivity while under house arrest at Ettal.
Rupert Mayer's legacy and honours
Since his death in 1945, Fr. Rupert Mayer's followers called for his beatification. In 1950, Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber opened the information process in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising regarding the call to sanctity and virtues. In 1951, Jesuit provincial Otto Faller completed and formally forwarded the beatification information to Rome.
In 1956, Pope Pius XII, who had personally known Fr. Rupert Mayer during his time as nuncio in Munich, awarded him the title Servant of God. Under Pope John XXIII, the beatification process was initiated, the results of which were formally accepted by Pope Paul VI in 1971. Under Pope John Paul II, the decree of 'heroic virtue' was issued in 1983. Fr. Rupert Mayer was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 3 November 1987 in Munich.
Fr. Mayer's grave was visited by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, whose parents had venerated him. Many faithful hope for his canonization, which requires a miracle to be accepted by Vatican authorities. In the meantime, people from all walks of life, visit the church in the centre of Munich every day, packed with their shopping bags, children, dogs and, their problems, asking for his intercession, or for a small moment of rest at his side.
In Bavaria, numerous streets are named after Father Rupert Mayer. In 1954, the Cartell Rupert Mayer (CRM) was founded. It was a further development of the first Christliche Loge (CL) founded in Munich in 1946. The mediaeval Dombauhütten Logen may be considered its forerunner. Furthermore, in Pullach, Bavaria, a public school, a Realschule and a Gymnasium bear his name. Also a school located in Cebu City; Sacred Heart School – Ateneo de Cebu, has a section named after him. Another Jesuit school in the Philippines; Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan, also has a high schoolsection that bears his name. Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colorado dedicated the chapel to him.
In 2006 Fordham University dedicated a chapel in his name at their Lincoln Center campus in Manhattan, New York.
Prayer of Rupert Mayer
The following text come from the song produced by Bukas Palad Music Ministry:
Lord, what You will let it be so
Where You will there we will go
What is Your will help us to know

Lord, when You will the time is right
In You there's joy in strife
For Your will I'll give my life

To ease Your burden brings no pain
To forego all for You is gain
As long as I in You remain

REFRAIN:
Because You will it, it is best
Because You will it, we are blest
Till in Your hands our hearts find rest
Till in Your hands our hearts find rest
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Mayer