Blessed Nikolaus Gross was born in Germany on September 30, 1898. He was the father of seven children and was a member of the Christian miners' labor union at age 19. He worked at the Catholic Workers' Movement at age 22 and became the director at age 24. He non-violently opposed Nazism from its beginning. He worked with distinguished Catholic intellectuals who opposed the regime. He worked to expose the lies of the Nazi propaganda. He was declared an enemy of the state and his newspaper was shut down in 1938, but with many risks he continued to publish an underground edition. Nikolaus was arrested on August 12, 1944 for treason and sentenced to death on January 15, 1945. He was executed on January 23, 1945 in a Germany prison. His body was cremated and his ashes were scattered. Pope John Paul II declared the decree of martyrdom in 2001 and was beatified on October 7, 2001 in Rome.
"The majority of great enterprises result from daily fulfillment of one’s duty in small, everyday things. What is valuable in the doing is our special love for the poor and the sick."
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