{"id":6811,"date":"2017-12-11T21:23:14","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T02:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=6811"},"modified":"2017-12-19T08:05:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-19T13:05:00","slug":"police-psychology-catholic-police-officer-and-possibly-a-saint-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=6811","title":{"rendered":"Police Psychology: Catholic, Police Officer, and Possibly a \u201cSaint\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Police Psychology | Catholic, Police Officer, and Possibly a \u201cSaint\u201d?<\/h1>\n

Fr. Joseph D\u2019Angelo, Catholic Priest, Police Chaplain<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

Witness the unknown story of one such individual who risked his life amidst grave danger to save over five thousand perfect strangers. The following narrative is an inspiring story about keeping faith in the midst of tribulation, even to the point of sacrificing his own life to martyrdom.<\/span><\/p>\n

GIOVANNI PALATUCCI, POLICEMAN AND MAN OF GOD<\/h2>\n

Between 1938 and 1944, Giovanni Palatucci, who was in charge of the Italian Government\u2019s Foreigners Office, and later Chief of Police in \"Palatucci\"<\/a>Fiume, northern Italy, saved the lives of 5,000 Jews, destined to extermination camps. Palatucci obtained false documents and safe-conducts for individuals persecuted by Nazism. He carried out this endeavor with the help of his uncle, Bishop Giuseppe Maria Palatucci of Campagna.<\/span><\/p>\n

Palatucci was born in Montella, Italy, in 1909. He worked in Genoa\u2019s public security administration until 1937, when he moved to Fiume. Following the promulgation of racist laws in Italy, he began forging documents and visas for thousands of Jews, sending them to internment camps, \u201cprotected\u201d with the added help of his uncle, the Bishop. At that time Palatucci was engaged to a young Jewish woman, and saw her safely in Switzerland before returning to his work.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1938 Italian dictator Benito Mussolini had promulgated anti-Jewish laws, which included the confinement of foreign Jews sheltered in camps for internees. One of the largest of these camps was located in Campagna. \u201cThey want to make us believe that the heart is only a muscle, to hinder us from doing what our hearts and religion tell us,\u201d Palatucci said, referring to these laws. Palatucci\u2019s work consisted in editing the necessary residence papers required by the law for refugees. He began silently to falsify documents and visas. When Palatucci \u201cdeported\u201d Jews \u201cofficially\u201d, he handled it in such a way that they were sent to Campagna, instructing his refugees to contact his uncle, who would give them the most help possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

After Mussolini\u2019s imprisonment in 1943, the German forces occupied the north of Italy, making the situation in Fiume increasingly dangerous for Palatucci, and for the 3,500 Jews there. In February 1943, Palatucci became Fiume\u2019s Chief of Police, and was thus able to continue his secret work. Instead of giving the Germans information on \u201cforeigners\u201d to be deported, he destroyed the records. When he learned about the Nazis\u2019 plans, he alerted people in time, often providing them with false documents and money to escape.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In June 1943, high German officials searched Palatucci\u2019s apartment, looking for information on resident Jews, the only lists they found corresponded to people who had left Italy long ago. From then on, Palatucci\u2019s relationship with his superiors became very dangerous. A close friend, the Swiss ambassador in Trieste, offered Palatucci safe passage to Switzerland. He accepted his friend\u2019s generous offer but, instead of using it himself, he sent his fianc\u00e9e, a young Jewish woman. She spent the war there and today lives in Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

On September 13, 1944, he was arrested by German security police, the Gestapo, accused of conspiracy, and condemned to death in the prison at Trieste. His sentence was later \u201ccommuted\u201d to deportation to Dachau on October 22nd.<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0 He was taken to the Dachau extermination camp, his prison number was 117826.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe died on February 10, 1945, in the very place from which he had saved so many,<\/span><\/p>\n

a few weeks before the camp was liberated by the Allies on April 29, 1945. Some say he died of undernourishment. Other witnesses said he was shot. He was only 36.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Giovanni Palatucci\u2019s cause of beatification is already under way. Fr. Gianfranco Zuncheddu, postulator of Palatucci\u2019s Cause of Beatification, said that since \u201cJune 17 of last year, the beginning of the diocesan investigation for the beatification and canonization of the Servant of God as a martyr for the faith. Now we await the response and judgment of the consultant theologians on his writings.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Being a good Catholic police officer shouldn\u2019t be about a doctrine but about actions and the \u201cheart\u201d behind those actions. We too often hinder when our hearts tell us to do something that is right. A good Catholic police officer should not hinder his heart or his religion to follow the letter of the law. The heart of the police officer should be to help others in their time of need like Giovanni Palatucci. That is how we become human and that is how we become a Saint.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Please share this article from down below.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Please join the email list on the top of the sidebar and you can get these sent to your email.\u00a0 Also follow me on Twitter for other articles and ideas, and YouTube at\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCfjNw0510ipr3bX587IvAHg<\/a> .
\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Feel free to donate if you like the site.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Police Psychology | Catholic, Police Officer, and Possibly a \u201cSaint\u201d? Fr. Joseph D\u2019Angelo, Catholic Priest, Police Chaplain Witness the unknown story of one such individual who risked his life amidst grave danger to save over five thousand perfect strangers. The following narrative is an inspiring story about keeping faith in the midst of tribulation, even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17168797,17168859],"class_list":["post-6811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories","tag-police-psychology","tag-sainthood"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":872,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=872","url_meta":{"origin":6811,"position":0},"title":"Police Psychology | Law Enforcement Spirituality Part 1","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"December 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Anne Bisek approached me with a spirituality article and we thought together what if we did a series on Spirituality.\u00a0 After all, as police psychologists and officers we deal with spiritual questions all the time.\u00a0 This is the first in a four or five part series on Spirituality with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Other Tools"","block_context":{"text":"Other Tools","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168889"},"img":{"alt_text":"Palatucci","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Palatucci.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":549,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=549","url_meta":{"origin":6811,"position":1},"title":"Police Psychology | You Change Your Underwear, Don\u2019t You","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"August 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | You Change Your Underwear, Don\u2019t You \u00a0 Police psychology is about change (and police stress\u00a0is often about dealing with change). It could be changing an officer\u2019s life, changing the behavior of a perpetrator, or choosing the officer who will go into an academy and have to deal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mastering Change"","block_context":{"text":"Mastering Change","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168881"},"img":{"alt_text":"Police Psychology Change 2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Police-Psychology-Change-2-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1036,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=1036","url_meta":{"origin":6811,"position":2},"title":"Police Psychology | The Mental Game in Law Enforcement","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"February 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | The Mental Game in Law Enforcement \u201c90 percent of the game is half mental\u201d (attributed to Yogi Berra) by Doug Gentz, Ph.D. - Psychological Services After you\u2019ve acquired the knowledge and skills required for any performance, further improvement depends on your ability to manage your nervous system\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mastering Effort"","block_context":{"text":"Mastering Effort","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168880"},"img":{"alt_text":"performance 1 Police pscyhology","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/performance-1-300x16.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":682,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=682","url_meta":{"origin":6811,"position":3},"title":"Police Psychology | Fit To Be A Cop? How Much Testing is Enough?","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"September 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"POLICE PSYCHOLOGY | FIT TO BE A COP?\u00a0 HOW MUCH PSYCH TESTING IS ENOUGH? Laurence Miller, PhD BALTIMORE (Associated Press) \u2014 \"A psychological firm paid to evaluate troubled Baltimore police, including a lieutenant charged in the killing of Freddie Gray, is under investigation by the city and has been put\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tests"","block_context":{"text":"Tests","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168877"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":386,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=386","url_meta":{"origin":6811,"position":4},"title":"Police Psychology | The Police Candidate Interpretive Report","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"June 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Police Candidate Interpretive Report \u00a0 I had one of the first cell phones for public consumption.\u00a0 It fit in a bag.\u00a0 The battery lasted minutes not hours, and it was essentially a car phone that could be moved around.\u00a0 But visions of Dick Tracy\u2019s watch and Agent 86\u2019s shoe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tests"","block_context":{"text":"Tests","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168877"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3158,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=3158","url_meta":{"origin":6811,"position":5},"title":"Police Psychology | Officer Involved Shootings – Collateral Damage","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"June 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | Officer Involved Shootings - Collateral Damage Chief George Filenko, Round Lake Park Police Department It was early New Year\u2019s morning 2006. The phone rang jolting me out of a sound sleep. The gruff voice on the other end of the phone was then Task Force Commander Bill\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Rank and Leadership"","block_context":{"text":"Rank and Leadership","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168887"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p60sbO-1LR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6836,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6811\/revisions\/6836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}