Sent to the battlefield, the young seminarian saw numerous companions fall by his side. What would be his fate in this fratricidal war?
Newsroom (19/03/2025 22:04, Gaudium Press) On the occasion of the Great War, Europe set its armed forces in motion, among which the German army stood out for its powerful capacity.
The circumstances in which the conflict developed forced the rival armies to keep their platoons entrenched in French territory for long months. Given the arduous need to defend themselves, they recruited every able-bodied man to fight on these fronts, which included a large number of university students, recent graduates and even seminarians.
Fr. Paul Forster, a Redemptorist missionary from Landshut in Germany, was one of these war recruits in the German nation. Feeling called to the priesthood, he had entered the Order’s seminary at a very young age and was looking forward to finishing his studies when Providence suddenly changed the course of his life…
Meeting death
At the age of 26, he was drafted to the war along with two of his companions, also seminarians, and on 30 December 1914 the company he had joined was ordered to march to the front. They all knew very well that the journey meant going to their deaths, as there was little chance of escaping the trenches alive. On the crude train that carried them, the three friends saw each other for the last time.
Months after entering the war, Paul’s two colleagues gave their lives in the midst of fierce fighting on the open field. As for him, however, a special design seemed to surround him. In fact, he possessed something very precious, which certainly attracted the gaze of Providence upon him: a deep devotion to Our Lady.
Forster entrusted himself to Mary’s maternal help unceasingly, as shown by a pious poem he composed in May 1915, when he was sent to a particularly dangerous post:
If I have to give my life
for the fatherland in the month of May,
in the glare of twilight;
I already belong to you by dying,
O Mary, my Mother!
I will cry out, already mortally wounded.
Bathed in red blood,
there goes the heart of your son!
Then you will take me with you,
for I belong to you like no other.
Even far from your picture,
You will always be close to your warrior.
Under the protection of his Heavenly Mother, and against all expectations, the young seminarian went through the war almost unscathed because, according to his words, an ‘invisible hand’ deflected the bullets from his direction… Gentle, affable, but as powerful as an army in battle array (cf. Ct 6:10), this hand performed real wonders in his favour, some of which will be recounted in the following lines.
The power of the Rosary in times of danger
One day, there was a fierce confrontation with the French, which ended with intense cannon fire, just as dawn was breaking, aimed precisely at the wing where Paul was. Alongside him, many were wounded to death, in the head or chest. ‘I’ll never forget,’ he says, ’the piercing sound with which a bullet pierced my neighbour’s forehead. I was in the same high position with my mates. I don’t know how I escaped unscathed.’
The morning after the horrific confrontation, the battalion was called up for roll call, but many didn’t respond… ‘Only one blessed feeling overtook everyone: the conviction that we had escaped tremendous danger. Above all, I had special reason to be grateful to God and his Blessed Mother,’ the soldier seminarian recognised.
Another miraculous protection would save Forster’s life shortly afterwards. He was posted as an observation sentry during an enemy bombardment. He was to spend six hours on end almost at the mercy of the French… Grenades and shrapnel were whizzing horribly over his head: ‘Incessant was the bursting, continuous the explosion around me. […] Finally I began to pray my Rosary, insistently recommending myself to the protection of the Mother of God. Explosions in my neighbourhood interrupted me frequently.’
Suddenly, Paul had the idea of changing his position and moved forward about twenty-five metres. He stopped in a place where he could better see the damage his companions were doing to the enemy. Before long, three heavy grenades exploded inside the German trenches, right next to the place he had abandoned minutes before… The entire trench ended up buried! Faced with such an impressive event, some attributed it to his great good fortune, but he knew for sure where the protection had come from: ‘I remembered my Rosary’.
Shot by enemy rifles
Humble and trusting in heavenly help more than in his strength, weapons and skill, Paul confesses that, during his participation in the war, he often didn’t count on saving his life. He adds: ‘But always, at the last minute, I found an open door. Always the bullet aimed at me missed its target…’
An impressive event occurred when his detachment had to invest against an enemy trench. His account follows: ‘I assaulted from the right. Immediately to my left, Lieutenant Dickmann cocked his machine gun and began to fire. But the fire coming out of the barrel aroused the enemy’s attention, who responded with a barrage of shots from their machine guns. The bullets slammed furiously into the steel bulkhead. One bullet, however, found the opening in the shield, the point of aim, and killed the officer instantly. The machine gun fell silent. Then the enemy rifles shot me. The salvos were for me and my companion, João Teufelhart, a young war volunteer. In an instant the poor chap was lying on the ground with twenty-four bullets in his body. […] Nothing happened to me…’
Trust put to the test
Cradled in Mary’s arms, Forster went through other perilous times until, as happens to all those who decide to enter the narrow gate of the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Lk 13:24), his trust was put to the test.
During an assault on an enemy stronghold, a grenade exploded twenty metres from where Paul was standing. He felt a sharp blow to his right hand and then blood running down his arm... It was a six-centimetre piece of metal that had embedded itself in his palm, severing the tendons and nerves of the first three fingers. These soon stiffened and swelled.
When he was sent to the aid centre, the chief medical officer decided it would be best to discharge him from the battlefield and send him back to his homeland, where he would be treated. A great joy! But a great trial… Was there any chance that his hand would ever be healthy again? If not, which was almost self-evident, how could he be ordained a priest? At that time, such a disability was a canonical impediment.
In fact, the accident meant that the muscles in his thumb, index and middle fingers contracted and, unable to be sutured, ended up losing their flexibility… Zeal for his vocation, however, and his fidelity to Our Lady drove him to a supreme act of trust: to appeal to Rome.
When the war ended, Paul presented himself to the Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII, then resident in Munich, seeking a dispensation to be ordained. At first, the prelate did not give him much hope, but then the authorization was granted and the seminarian’s trust was rewarded!
Throughout his life, Fr. Forster was deeply and affectionately grateful to his Heavenly Mother, always seeking to confess her before God and man.
‘My Mother, help me!’
‘He who fights in the shadow of the Immaculate does not fear the sword of a thousand soldiers!’ sings the immortal hymn of the Marian Congregations. Indeed, what can human forces do against those whom Our Lady protects?
Attracted no doubt by Paul’s priestly vocation, but also by the filial trust that this young man placed in her, the Blessed Virgin did great things in his favour. She will not fail to do the same for each of her sons and daughters who have recourse to her maternal intercession.
Under the fire of our enemies, whether earthly or infernal, let us not hesitate to exclaim with ardent faith and simplicity of heart: ‘My Mother, my trust, help me!’
With files from Heralds of the Gospel Magazine no. 248, August 2022. By Daniela Haiden de Lacerda.
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
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