Father Leo Heinrichs, O.F.M. (August 15, 1867, Oestrich, now a part of the city Erkelenz, Germany - February 23, 1908, Denver, Colorado) was a German-born Roman Catholic priest of the Franciscan Order. While assigned at St. Elisabeth of Hungary Church in Denver, Colorado, Heinrichs Father Leo was shot dead while distributing communion by a Sicilian anarchist.
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Joseph Heinrichs was born on August 15, 1867, in Oestrich, now a part of Erkelenz, Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany. After fleeing Germany's Kulturkampf, the Franciscans settled at St. Bonaventure's Friary in Paterson, New Jersey, where, on December 4, 1886, Heinrichs received the Franciscan habit and the name Brother Leo. He took his final vows on December 8, 1890, and became an ordained priest on July 26, 1891.
Between 1891 and 1907, Father Leo served in various positions in the New York and New Jersey area including pastor at Holy Angels parish in Singac (Little Falls), New Jersey, at St. Stephen's in Croghan, New York, and at St. Bonaventure's. During a smallpox epidemic while he was pastor at Paterson, Father Leo was known to spend many hours at a nearby “pest house” ministering to the sick and the dying. In September 1907, the Provincial Chapter appointed him pastor of St. Elizabeth's parish in Denver, Colorado.
Father Leo arrived at St. Elizabeth's on September 23, 1907. His term as pastor lasted exactly five months. Father Leo received permission to return to Germany to visit his family after an absence of over twenty one years; but he postponed his journey until after June 7, 1908, when he planned to give First Communion to a class of seventy children. A week before his death, he spoke at the Young Ladies' Sodality meeting. He remarked, “If I had my choice of a place where I would die, I would choose to die at the feet of the Blessed Virgin.”
Father Leo normally celebrated the 8am Sunday Mass, but he requested to switch to the 6 a.m. Mass, normally celebrated by Father Wulstan Workman. Father Leo had intended to attend a meeting later that morning. Among those attending the Mass was fifty year old Giuseppe Alia, who had recently immigrated from the Kingdom of Italy. Alia arrived before Mass and seated himself in the third row, in front of the pulpit. It was a 6 a.m. “Workingmen's Mass”, and there was only a short sermon so the men would not be late for work.
During Communion, Alia knelt at the Communion Rail and received the Host. Then, however, he spat it into his hand and flung it at Father Leo's face. The Host dropped to the floor as Alia drew his revolver and aimed it at Father Leo's heart. As an altar boy screamed a warning, the Sicilian opened fire. The mortally wounded priest exclaimed, "My God, my God!", before falling to the floor. Before dying, he placed the ciborium on the step of Our Lady’s altar, and managed to place two fallen Hosts back into the ciborium before strength left him. In a last gesture, Father Leo pointed to the spilled Hosts that he was now too weak to pick up. Rose Fisher, an eyewitness, reported that Father Leo died smiling, at the foot of the Blessed Virgin's altar. Father Wulstan Workman, who had switched with Father Leo for the later Mass, administered the Last Rites. Father Wulstan told the Denver Post, "I would have been killed and he would be alive now. There is one way to solve the affair that I can see, and that is that God chose the better man."[1]
Father Leo's body was transported to New Jersey for burial in a Franciscan plot. Saint Elizabeth of Hungary parish continues to serve the Roman Catholic church[2] while also ministering to Denver's Russian Catholic community.
Guiseppe Alia attempted to flee the Church, but a parishioner, E.J. Quigley, a conductor for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, tripped him. Daniel Cronin, an off-duty Denver police officer, then placed the Sicilian under arrest and delivered him to the city jail.
At the police station, Alia boasted of his anarchist beliefs, saying,
"I went over there because I have a grudge against all priests in general. They are all against the workingman. I went to the communion rail because I could get a better shot. I did not care whether he was a German priest or any other kind of priest. They are all in the same class... I shot him, and my only regret is that I could not shoot the whole bunch of priests in the church."[3]
Alia was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging within weeks of the shooting. Shortly before the execution, a Franciscan priest from St. Elizabeth’s visited Alia in prison. Infuriated, Alia cursed and swore at him. Alia never expressed any remorse, and, despite the pleas of the friars at St. Elizabeth’s, he was hanged at the Colorado State Penitentiary in Cañon City. His last words were reportedly "Death to the priests!"[1]
"The coroner found that Father Leo's upper arms and waist were wrapped in leather straps. Each strap was studded with rows of pointed iron hooks, which pierced the skin. Around the priest's waist the skin was calloused and scarred, but showed no sign of infection. Father Leo secretly practiced this extreme form of mortification, perhaps to help him master his quick temper. None of his confrères had any idea of his self-inflicted penances. When the friars entered Father Leo’s room after his death, they found that he slept on a wooden door."[1]
In the German city of Erkelenz, a street is named for Fr. Heinrichs, who was born there.[4] His process of beatification was opened in Rome since 1938. He is entombed in Totowa, New Jersey's Holy Sepulchre Roman Catholic Cemetery.