János Scheffler (German: Johann Scheffler; 29 October 1887 – 6 December 1952) was a Hungarian-born Roman Catholic prelate who served as the bishop of two dioceses before acting as the Bishop of Oradea Mare.[1] He was imprisoned due to opposing the Communist government policies and was killed while imprisoned. He had been noted during his episcopate for his attentiveness to vocations and for the defense of the faith from those forces that sought to disrupt it such as communism.[2][3]
His beatification took place in 2011.
Life
János Scheffler was born on 29 October 1887 in Kálmánd, Austria-Hungary (now Cămin, Romania) as the second of ten children. He became a Romanian citizen after the Treaty of Trianon granted the region to the Kingdom of Romania in 1920. His brother was Franz Scheffler (3 October 1894 - 29 October 1956).[1][2]
In 1897 he began to feel called to become a priest though did not begin an active pursuit of this dream until 1906 since he began his high school studies in 1898 with the Jesuits.[3] In 1906 he began his theological studies at the college in Budapest where he achieved excellent grades. Scheffler was later ordained to the priesthood in 1910. He was first assigned to Ciumești while that October saw him sent to Rome to the Pontifical Gregorian University to learn canon law where he soon became a doctor of law on 19 June 1912 upon his graduation.[1] When he studied in Rome he lived in the priest college Santa Maria dell' Anima.[4] In July 1914 - as World War I was beginning - he became a professor of theological studies and the dean of students at Szatmárnémeti (today Satu Mare, Romania). In November 1915 he received his scientific degree. In 1922 with the Satu Mare and Oradea Mare dioceses being merged he set up a single college becoming its first dean as well as professor of canon law and historical studies. In 1923 he became a parish priest at Moftinu Mare. In 1925 he started teaching seminarians for the priesthood and attended the Eucharistic Congress in Chicago from 20–24 June 1926.[2][3] In 1939 he became a spiritual director.
In 1942, Scheffler was elected to be the Bishop of Szatmárnémeti, while in November 1945 he was transferred as the Bishop of Győr though he was not installed, because he preferred to remain in his previous diocese. He was transferred for the last time in 1948 to another diocese. Vocations became his principal concern and so he founded the "Opus Vocationum Ecclesiasticum" for the care and cultivation of vocations while also establishing several minor seminaries.[2] After World War II he began to express opposition to government policies objecting to the deportation of Germans to the Soviet Union. He appealed for the release of Alexandru Rusu who was the Greek-CatholicBishop of Maramureș that the new communist regime had arrested. At the time 1950 began all bishops in Romania had been arrested and Scheffler himself was among the last being placed under house arrest on 23 May 1950. He refused an offer to become a bishop in a national church subjected to the regime and so was imprisoned as a result of this on 19 March 1952.[1]
In Jilava Prison he was tortured after having boiling water poured onto him. He died there in the morning of 6 December 1952.[3] News of his death reached Satu Mare in 1953 and his remains were buried in the Satu Mare Cathedral in 1965; an Orthodox priest had noted the location and had the remains moved since the late bishop had been placed in an unmarked grave. His remains were exhumed on 17 June 2011 and interred in another location in the Satu Mare Cathedral.[1]
Beatification
The beatification process started on 12 December 1991 under Pope John Paul II after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued the official "nihil obstat" and titled Scheffler as a Servant of God. The diocesan process opened on 8 December 1994 and concluded a short time later on 5 December 1996 while the C.C.S. validated the process in Rome on 13 May 1998. The C.C.S. also received the Positio in 2002 for assessment which theologians approved on 1 July 2009 as did the C.C.S. on 20 April 2010.
