Bl. Franz Alexander Kern

Franz Alexander Kern was born in Vienna in 1897 into a working-class family. He entered the minor seminary in his teens, intending to become a priest.

He was called up in 1915 and badly wounded on the Italian front in 1916; he never fully recovered. In 1920 he joined the Premonstratensian abbey of Geras as Brother Jakob. The Premonstratensians are an order of canons, priests who live in community.

He was ordained in 1922 despite poor health, but his old war wound led to many operations. He died in Vienna in 1924, aged twenty-seven. John Paul II beatified him in Vienna in 1998.

Franz Alexander Kern was beatified in 1998.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.