Saint Who?
Saints Who Worked with Their Hands
Blessed Marcel Callo
Martyr († 1945) Feast: March 19
In many ways, Marcel was just an ordinary Frenchman. He became an apprentice in a print shop. He enjoyed playing ping-pong, soccer, and bridge. He was a natural leader and a bit of a perfectionist. He fell in love and got engaged. But then World War II started.
Marcel had always been devout, and he kept his distance from coworkers who mocked Christian virtue. As refugees flooded France, he daily led a group of friends to a nearby train station to help them as they passed through his city. When he was conscripted by the Nazis and sent to work in a factory, the harsh conditions and lack of access to the sacraments caused him to become depressed. Only his faith in Christ saved him from despair. Inspired by God and with new hope, he began to organize activities for Christians, playing card games, putting on plays, and bringing a little joy to their dreary days.
But these activities made him too visibly a Catholic. The Nazis arrested him and sent him to the Mauthausen prison camp. Several months later, he died from the brutal conditions and beatings he endured. But the colonel who witnessed his death later testified, “Marcel[’s]…gaze expressed a deep conviction that he was heading for happiness.… I have never seen in a dying man a look like this.”
Holy Spirit, reveal to us the joy
that is offered us in heaven.
