During his travels and life as an expat in Europe, the Reverend Fergus Butler Gallie stumbled across story after story of the most incredibly heroic clergy. This promoted him to write Priests de la Résistance (2019), a book that The Guardian calls: “A stirring compendium of the lives of clergy who stood up to Hitler.”
“I realised that, with a couple of exceptions, their stories were totally unknown in the UK, indeed some of them had no record of their deeds written in English. So what began as an attempt to remedy that, became a wider project as I discovered more and more examples,” says the current Vicar of Charlbury with Shorthampton in the diocese of Oxford.
Oxford and Cambridge-educated Fergus has served in churches in Liverpool and Central London, plus in chaplaincy at a school in Kent. And although only 31, the author has penned several articles for major media and written two other books – A Field Guide to the English Clergy: A Compendium of Diverse Eccentrics, Pirates, Prelates and Adventurers; All Anglican, Some Even Practising (2018) and his memoir, Touching Cloth: Confessions and communions of a young priest (2023).
Father Fergus will be giving a talk about the clerical resistance in World War II “and some lighter tales” on Friday, July 12, at St Paul’s Anglican Church in Monaco. He was invited by long-time friend Reverend Hugh Bearn, who says, “Father Fergus is a highly entertaining, witty, a skilled raconteur and a serious historian – a young man who embodies the notion of a traditional priest in the Church of England.”
Here are five questions we asked the Reverend Fergus on the subject.
Do you think history is repeating itself 80 years after the liberation of Europe from totalitarianism?
FBG: Well, I suppose so, but I think we ought to remember that much of Eastern and Central Europe experienced totalitarianism until 40 or so years ago, and Spain 55 years ago: history always repeats itself I think and the sad historical reality is that totalitarianism has actually been the norm, the question is how does one resist it?
History seems split on the view of Pope Pius XII. Some historians view him as ‘Hitler’s Pope’ but recently released historical documents show him as more of a shrewd politician who was able to safeguard the Catholic Church while also providing asylum for some Jewish people when he could. In light of your research, where do you fall on Pope Pius XII?
FBG: Gosh it’s very tricky. I think the real answer is that it’s complicated. I think either viewing him as entirely complicit with Hitler or as a hero are both inaccurate oversimplifications. What I would say is that almost all the leaders of Europe were on tightropes at the time. During the war itself I think the fact that clergy make up by far the largest section of the ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ and the horrific numbers of them killed in concentration camps, etc, speaks for itself in terms of the fact that the Church of which
Pius was head was perhaps the single most important organisation that resisted Nazism. However, I think what is perhaps more damning are his actions towards the end and just after the war where he appears to support clergy who were complicit in war crimes – in particular in Croatia – and allows, knowingly or not, the Vatican to be used as an escape route for those who should have faced justice. The truth is he was a conflicted, complicated character- probably too weak in terms of personality to ever become some sort of Catholic Churchill –but still trying to do his best and sometimes succeeding.
In your research, were any of the priests or nuns excommunicated by the church for helping those of the Jewish faith? If not, doesn’t that say something about the Catholic Church’s sympathies during the war?
FBG: No, clergy were never excommunicated for that and, as I say above, I think there’s is a strong argument to say that the Catholic Church in particular plays the most important resistance role of all in Europe during the Second World War. But I suppose it’s worth realising, as I say in the book, that the Church is about as diverse and widespread an institution as you can find by its very nature. There were plenty of clergy who collaborated very willingly alongside the heroes who resisted. The Church’s main issue is that it’s filled with humans who are, by its own teaching, fallible and sinful even when trying to do good.
If there is a worst-case scenario in Europe today and totalitarianism does spread, could you see members of today’s European clergy (Catholic or Protestant) making the same sacrifices?
FBG: I would hope so. I think the Church invariably comes into its own as a place where hope can spread when the political situation seems hopeless. I suppose the Church is less powerful than it was then but the fundamental truth that it proclaims – that we owe primary allegiance to God Almighty – has not gone away and one would hope it would inspire now as it did then.
When the war ended, were most of the priests and nuns that you wrote about celebrated as heroes or did they simply return to a quiet life within the Church?
FBG: Well, it varied. The wonderful Canon Felix Kir became a real celebrity – Mayor of Dijon for another two decades and, of course, having the blanc de cassis named after him because he drank so much of it. Others went on to run charities or parishes or religious orders, but the reality is that over half of those I wrote about didn’t survive the war at all. They were perhaps the greatest heroes.
To confirm attendance for the July 12 talk by Fergus Butler Gallie, contact hughbearn@gmail.com. A €10 entry fee at the door on July 12 will be donated to charity, and refreshments will follow at St Paul’s House.
Chaplain Hugh adds, “Father Fergus will be preaching at St Paul’s at 10:30 am on July 14 – the seventh Sunday after Trinity which is also Bastille Day – how apposite.”
Article first published July 9, 2024.