Saintly Children

Rudi Hackenbuchner

When we read about Rudi, it is amazing to see how holy this little boy became in such a short time. If only all children would do the same thing as Rudi, then there would be millions of little saints, living in the world.

Rudi was born on June 26, 1926, in Brunn, Austria and when he was baptized, he was consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. His parents were glad to have the little boy; he was a happy and healthy child. When his Grandmother was with him, she took special care of him and gave him much love and affection. And he in turn loved his Grandmother and liked to be with her.

Rudi was an intelligent child and when he was only two years old, he could sing all kinds of little songs and he would try to name the flowers that were pictured in his father's big book.

One day Rudi got a "big sister"! It happened like this. He had an uncle and aunt living in Ethiopia, Africa and they had a daughter named Helena. Africa was not very civilized at the time and before long Helena's parents realized that Africa was not the best place to raise her. There it would be difficult to give her a good education and to protect her from the many dangers in that country.

The Hackenbuchners in Brunn agreed to bring up Helena, and she was sent to Austria. Helena was six years older than Rudi and he welcomed her as his "big sister". Before long Rudi became great friends with his cousin and they had many good times, playing together.

Helena had a difficult type of character and sometimes had to be scolded or punished because she had been bad. This always made little Rudi sad and he gave his mother and father many excuses for the way Helena had acted. He would say, "Helena did not mean to be bad… Helena will not do it again… Helena is very good again…" And in this way he would help his sister not to get punished for her bad behaviour.

Often, Rudi and Helena would play church. Rudi would be the little priest and they would have a great time together. They would also play father and mother and a doll would always be their sick child. And they would give this pretend baby all kinds of love and affection.

Rudi had a special love for the Three Kings who went to visit the Christ Child in Bethlehem. He would often look at a picture of the Three Kings in a Bible History book and he would gaze at the picture for a long time. Then after a while he would cry out, "Look Mama, the Three Holy Kings,---how nice they are!" And Rudi was most delighted when one Christmas his uncle gave him little statues of the Three Kings.

Little Rudi like to draw and he drew little horses, a train and houses. But the pictures he drew most often were pictures of the Three Kings. And while he was still very small and could hardly read and write, he wrote a little story about the Three Kings. No one had told him to do this; he simply loved the Three Kings.

Rudi's parents taught him to pray at an early age. They spoke to him often about Jesus and Mary. He often prayed to Jesus, Mary and Joseph. He also had a special love for St. Theresa of the Child Jesus and had his own little statue of her. Rudi's parents had put their little boy under the protection of St. Theresa. They used to tell him stories about her life and when he was sick, he wanted to have his statue of St. Theresa near him.

Rudi loved the Child Jesus and to please Him he would examine himself every evening, to see what faults he had committed during the day and what good he did not do. One day his mother told him, "Rudi, you are still too much of a Mamma's boy. You must overcome this fault and be more independent." Now Rudi realized that he must not act like a little baby by being too attached to his mother. From then on he tried bravely, to be a manly little fellow.

Another thing that Rudi did that shows us how much he loved the Child Jesus, was that on every little piece of paper he found he would write the letters IHS. IHS are the first three letters of the Greek word for Jesus. Rudi marked these letters on his playthings, his boxes, and many other articles.

Rudi loved to go to Mass and when he was in church he always watched the priest carefully at Mass and Benediction. The boy memorized all the prayers of the Mass from the beginning to the end and he knew these prayers better than many adults.

Rudi had his own little play altar at home where he would play "Mass" and act like a priest. He would use a big armchair as a pulpit and would tell his listeners that the one thing necessary to do in life was to love the Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Here is an example of one of his sermons, "Do you know what mortal sin is? It is like when an electric light stops working and goes out. The electrician must come again and fix the light so that the current can go through the light. Sinners have to confess their sins to the priest; then the light of grace will be there again!"

One time at Christmas, Rudi came home from the church with his father. He had visited the Nativity set in the church and told his mother, "You know mother, St. Augustine really wouldn't have had to study so much about the Holy Trinity. It is quite easy to understand the Holy Trinity. God the Father is high up in Heaven, Jesus the second Divine Person came down to earth, and the Holy Ghost came after Him."

Rudi was very bright in school. He took great interest in all that was taught to him and he surprised others with his questions and answers. He always made sure that he did all his lessons carefully and correctly. Often he was called from his Grade 1 class to one of the higher grades so that he could recite the Ten Commandments to an older student who did not know them.

In school, Rudi liked to be around poor children. He liked to help the littlest ones and was always glad to share some chocolate or something else with them. Everybody liked Rudi because he was so kind and many children remembered how good, little Rudi was.

During his young life Rudi had often spoke to his mother about dying. "You know Mamma; it may happen that I die sooner than you!" And he would say, "I really have no fear of death. When one is on good terms with Our Heavenly Father, as we two are, then one may not be afraid of going home to Him!"

It seems that somehow Rudi knew that he was going to die young. On March 2, 1933, when he was seven years old, he wrote in his school book, "Rudi is sick. Mother gets the doctor. Rudi has to take two bitter pills every day." And on March 4, his last day in school, he wrote the same kind of thing over and over in his school book.

The next day he was sick with the mumps but he kept up his good spirits. Then on March 11, 1933, Rudi was taken to the hospital with appendicitis. He was operated on at once, but after the operation he was very weak. Fr. Leo, the priest who taught Rudi religion, came to see him in the hospital and gave him the Last Rites.

His mother led Rudi in prayer, "Little Jesus, come to me, make a pious child of me." Rudi faced death bravely and he held out his hands to be anointed by the priest. Suddenly his pulse became weaker and within in a few minutes he died.

When Rudi's schoolmates heard about his death, they all cried. He had always been good to them. With flowers and candles, they all assisted at his funeral. On Rudi's tombstone are written these beautiful words, "God is love!"

Rudi was a good little boy, but he had to work at being a good boy, just like other children have to work at being good. What helped Rudi to be good was his great love for Jesus and Mary. If you love Jesus and Mary then they will also help you to be good, just as they helped little Rudi to be good. And ask little Rudi to help you be good as well.

The End

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