Clemens August von Galen was born at the Dinklage castle in Oldenburg. He was a priest, the Bishop of Munster, and in 1946 made a cardinal. He was among a group of bishops whom Pope Pius XI invited to Rome in January 1937 in order to discuss their situation in Germany and to prepare the encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge, which expressed alarm about the Nazi regime long before world public opinion in general did. In his homilies, von Galen energetically opposed the State’s violent actions, emphasizing the right to life and the inviolability and liberty of Germany’s citizens. He strongly opposed the euthanasia of those deemed by the Nazi regime to have unproductive, pointless lives, including those who were disabled. He died March 22, 1946 and was beatified by the Roman Catholic Church on October 9, 2005.