Ralph J Diefenbach ¹²⁹

  General Notes:

Ralph Diefenbach was the founding pastor of St. Theresa Catholic Church in Houston, Texas (http://www.sttheresa.cc/).


In June of 1943, Fr. Diefenbach went into the army as a chaplain. He served for 2 1/2 years in Europe with General Patton's Third Army. He was chaplain at the field hospital of the 2nd CORPS in Germany, participated in the D-Day invasion, and served in Belgium and France. He received a Commendation Ribbon for his service and was awarded the Bronze Star for his extraordinary acts of heroism in bringing comfort and the sacraments to wounded and dying soldiers during the heat of battle.

In 1945, he was chosen for the dangerous mission of retrieving the "hand of St. Stephen". This relic of the first king of Hungary was extremely important to the people of Hungary and had been removed from the royal palace at the beginning of the war for safekeeping and hidden in an Austrian warehouse. American soldiers found it near the end of the war, but Russia would not permit transport of the religious artifact back to Hungary. Fr. Diefenbach gained national fame when he disguised himself and went through Russian held territory with forged papers to retrieve the hand and return it to Budapest.

He was featured in Life Magazine Vol. 19 No. 13 dated September 24, 1945. There is a large photo of Father Ralph Diefenbach with Hungary's leaders and the priest that delivered the relic to Father Ralph. ¹²⁹

  Noted events in his life were:

• Ordination: Catholic Priest, Nov 1937, La Porte, Texas. ¹²⁹ St. Mary's Seminary

• Cemetery: Calvary Hill Cemetery, 12 Jun 1959, Dallas, Texas. ¹²⁹