Dr. Johann Sähly

Johann Sähly is orphaned at the age of six. After secondary school, the gifted boy attended grammar school in Feldkirch. There he was accepted into the secondary school fraternity Clunia Feldkirch in 1925. After graduating with honors in 1929, he went to Rome to study theology as an alumnus of the Germanieum at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained a priest there in 1935 and obtained his doctorate in theology in 1936. After completing his studies, he returned to Feldkirch as a cooperator (chaplain) and became the chaplain of his secondary school fraternity Clunia Feldkirch. In this role, he witnessed the occupation of Austria by the Third Reich.

After the Bürgerbräu assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on November 9, 1939, a rumor spread in Feldkirch that there was a secret transmitter in the church tower used by monarchists to communicate with foreign countries. Johann Sähly was arrested as the main suspect in January 1940 and taken to prison in Innsbruck. Despite rigorous interrogations, including among the altar boys and parish youth, no evidence could be produced and Johann Sähly was released.