Eduard Profittlich

Early years

Profittlich was born of a peasant farmer's couple: Markus Profittlich (1846-1920) and Dorothea Seiwert (1850-1913), the eighth of ten children, on 11 September 1890 in Birresdorf, German Empire.

After finishing the elementary school in Leimersdorf, he was prepared in 1904 by a local parish priest to take up further education in Ahrweiler. From there, he moved to the school in Linz am Rhein at Easter 1909, graduating here from high school in 1912 and receiving a secondary school certificate and attended the seminary of Trier. His parents wanted him to become a diocesan priest to help them in emergency situation, but on 11 April 1913 he entered in the Society of Jesus in 's-Heerenberg, Netherlands, where the German Jesuits settled as a result of their expulsion caused by the politics of the Kulturkampf of Bismarck. His older brother Peter (1878-1915) died as a missionary in Brazil and also Profittlich wanted to became a Catholic priest. Eduard continued his studies in exile at the scholasticate of Valkenburg aan de Geul, Netherlands, since 20 September 1914.

During the First World War he served as a nurse and surgical assistant from 1916 to 1918 in the Imperial Army. On January 4, 1916, Profittlich finally received in the Cathedral of Trier by Heinrich Döring, SJ, (1859-1951), bishop of Poona, the tonsure and consecration to subdeacon.

Priest

Eduard Profittlich resumed his philosophical and theological studies in Valkenburg after the war and was there on March 26, 1922 by the Archbishop of Cologne Cardinal Karl Joseph Schulte (1871-1941) he was ordained deacon. On 27 August 1922 Profittlich was ordained priest by Lorenz Schrijnen, bishop of Roermond. On August 30, 1922, he celebrated in his home parish church of St. Stephen in Leimersdorf the first solemn Mass sacrifice.

Profittlich entered in the new Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, founded in 1917 by Pope Benedict XV, with the intention of preparing for clandestine missionary work in Russia. In 1923 he became a doctor in philosophy and in 1924 doctor in theology at the Jagiellonian University of Kraków.^[1] From September 1924 to June 1925 Profittlich was a missionary in Czechowice-Dziedzice, Poland, from August 1925 to Match 1928 in Opole, a German city with many Poles; from March 9, 1928 to 1930 he was parish priest in the Polish parish in Hamburg of Saint Ansgar and since 11 December 1930 he became parish priest of the church of St Peter and St Paul in Tallinn by the apostolic administrator of Estonia, Archbishop Antonio Zecchini, SJ, after has made his perpetual vows on 2 February of the same year.

Apostolic Administrator and bishop

On 11 May 1931 Profittlich was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Estonia. It was influenced by his good knowledge of Polish and Polish affairs. The population of Polish origin constituted the majority of Catholics living in Estonia.

On September 28, 1933, Pope Pius XI appointed him in exchange for his services as an protonotary apostolic in a private audience at the Vatican.

The biggest problem of the Catholic Church in this country was a small number of believers, their multilingualism and dispersion. The new administrator quickly developed the development plan of the Catholic Church and became involved in pastoral activities. His sermons were particularly popular, and the faithful of other faiths also came.

He began publishing the country's first church weekly magazine Kiriku Elu (The Life of the Church), which was especially read by Estonian intelligentsia. The number of the faithful grew steadily and new parishes were established in: Narva, Pärnu, Rakvere, Petseri, Valga and Kiviõli. In 1934, they were supported by ten Catholic priests and Polish and Czech nuns. Special emphasis was given by Edward Profittlich to the religious upbringing of the youth, which was possible thanks to the religion lessons run by the Church in four schools and where he dealt with regular religious lessons, which were published in seven languages in four different schools.

Profittlich was a recognized preacher a as bishop. He began to address the issue of Estonian-language literature on the subject of religion. He tried to change the image of the Catholic Church as a "Polish church", more open and closer to Estonians.

In 1935, he requested and received Estonian citizenship.^[2]

After the signing of the treaty between the Vatican and Estonia in 1935, under which the legal status of the apostolic administration in Estonia was confirmed, on 27 November 1936 he was named titular archbishop of Adrianople and on 27 December 1936 Profittlich was consecrated archbishop, remaining an apostolic administrator, at parish church of St Peter and St Paul in Tallinn. Profittlich became the first Catholic bishop in Estonia after the passage of Estonian territories to Sweden under the 17th century.

After further years of fruitful work in Estonia in September 1939, the Second World War broke out. He remained in Tallinn even after the Soviet occupation of Estonia in June 1940 and went to the German embassy in Tallinn three times to obtain exit visas for certain Catholic priests and nuns and Baltic Germans imprisoned by the Soviets. However, the church's situation has deteriorated completely, and the priest and the faithful have been persecuted by the communists. He described the whole situation in a letter to the Pope. At that time, the German embassy in Tallinn insisted that he take German citizenship again and renounce his Estonian citizenship, to which the archbishop did not agree.

Arrest and death

Few days after the aggression of the Third Reich on the USSR, on 27 June 1941 Profittlich was arrested by eight NKVD agents and transferred to prison in Kirov, Russia, by anti-Soviet agitation and assistance to Catholic ecclesiastics abroad.

After several hours, most frequently night interrogations, on October 14, 1941, a bill of indictment was prepared in Kirov, in which he was accused of carrying out anti-Soviet agitation by using the religious feelings of the masses to hate the USSR and the Communist Party. In addition, he was accused of espionage in favor of the Third Reich, presenting him as proof of his visit to the embassy in Tallinn. After the next interrogations, on October 17, he was presented with further evidence of anti-Soviet talks with his fellow prisoner. Edward Profittlich always said he was innocent.

On October 25, 1941, the trial began, in which ended with the priest being found guilty. He appealed to the Supreme Court of the USSR, but his appeal was rejected. He was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and work in the labor camp in Kirov, but on 21 November of the same year he was sentenced to death by shooting for anti-Soviet activities and espionage for Germany. On February 22, 1942 he died in Kirov prison before the sentence was executed.

Profittlich's faith witness

Bishop Profittlich was ready to accept the martyrdom of faith. In a letter to relatives and acquaintances on February 8, 1941, he wrote that the shepherd's place is at his herd where he shares the joy and suffering. He wrote that it is a great pleasure to experience the presence of God to whom we have given everything and that he is ready to give God for all his life: "My life - and, if necessary, my death - is life and death for Christ."

The Mystery of the Archbishop's Death

From the day of his arrest for 50 years, the future of the Archbishop was unknown. It was suspected that he was imprisoned in Ufa and later in Kazan. Even searching for members of his family did not bring anything new to the matter. Groundbreaking turned out to be in 1990, when Estonia regained its independence (30 March). On June 12, 1990 the Supreme Court informed the Catholic Church about the fate of the Archbishop and the court has completely rehabilitated the clergy post mortem and declared innocent of the alleged crimes against him. Archives were also opened, in which documents of the archbishop's case were kept.

Process of holiness

His honor is named on the premises of the Tartu Catholic Education Center, and a memorial plaque (open on September 11, 1990) has been placed in the St Peter and St Paul Roman Catholic Church in Tallinn.

The Bishops' Conference of the Russian Federation initiated on 30 January 2002 the beatification of Archbishop Eduard Profittlich (and another 15 lay people, priests and bishops). After the Congregation for the Causes of Saints granted the "nihil obstat" under the title "Causa Beatificationis seu Declarationis Martyrii Servorum Dei Eduardi Profittlich Archiepiscopi titularis Hadrianopolitani in Haemimonto Administratoris Apostolici Estoniensis, ex Societate Iesu et XV Sociorum", on May 30, 2003, an ecclesiastical procedure was opened in Saint Petersburg for the Eduard Profittlich's beatification.