René Ponsin

Who they were

René Ponsin was a layman born at Cœuvres-et-Valsery on 30 September 1923 and baptised on 11 November; he worked in a grocery and appears to have belonged to the Young Christian Workers. He left for Germany in 1942, married Lucienne Vigneron on 12 June 1943 while on leave and had a daughter, and at Stalag VI G at Cologne-Deutz he never missed Sunday Mass or the Catholic Action meetings; arrested on 23 September 1943, he died on 22 April 1945, aged 21, during the evacuation of Buchenwald. He was beatified on 13 December 2025 by Pope Leo XIV.

The miracles

The source does not describe the miracles approved in the cause.

Why that counted as sanctity

A young husband who kept to Sunday Mass and Catholic Action in the camps, he died at 21 in the evacuation of Buchenwald.