Blessed Father Gabriele Maria Allegra was an Italian Franciscan priest, who translated the entire Bible into Chinese for the first time and who was also a student and YCW chaplain in Singapore.

Co-founder and chaplain of the JOC in the Diocese of Cordoba, later bishop of La Rioja. Killed by the military for his involvement with the poor and landless.

JOC and Catholic Action chaplain in the Basque town of Arrasate/Mondragon and founder of the Mondragon Cooperatives.

Founder of the JOC in Asuncion, Paraguay, later a Vatican II bishop, who also played an important role in the Latin American bishops conference (CELAM) at Medellin, Colombia in 1968.

Fr Henri Caffarel was a French JOC chaplain who later founded the Equipes de Notre Dame (Teams of Our Lady). He served as a peritus at Vatican II. Pope Leo XIV declared him venerable on 23 March 2026.

French JOC leader sent to Germany under the forced labour regime during World War II. Arrested for his role in organising workers and died in Mauthausen Concentration Camp.

Sent to Germany during World War II as a forced labourer. Arrested for organising workers. Died after being evacuated from Flossenburg Concentration Camp.

Jean Chavet was a French YCS leader from Lyon, who was sent as a forced labourer to Germany. He was later arrested and imprisoned for his Catholic Action activities and sent to Mauthausen, where he died on 24 April 1945.

Victor Dillard was a French Jesuit, who was sent to Germany under the Compulsory Labour Service regime, where he acted as a chaplain to JOC and other Catholic Action groups before being arrested and eventually sent to Dachau where he died.

Once a member of the Sillon, Georges Guérin entered the seminary after World War I and became the founding chaplain of the French JOC.

Alberto Hurtado was a Jesuit pioneer of Catholic Action in Chile, who studied at Louvain.

Joseph Cardijn with JOC banner 1930s

JOC leader who was sent to Germany under the forced labour regime, where he organised JOC teams among the young workers. Arrested and eventually sent to Zöschen, where he died of dysentery.

Jean Lépicier was a JOC leader from Angers, who was called up for STO (forced labour service) in Germany in 1943. Arrested for his jocist activities in March 1944, he died at the Buchenwald concentration camp on 3 March 1945.

Pierre de Porcaro was a French YCW chaplain who went to work in Germany under the forced labour scheme and was martyred for his work, dying in the Dachau concentration camp.

Jean Préhu was a Scout and JEC (YCS) leader, who was a prisoner of war, who helped organise other prisoners, leading to his deportation to Buchenwald.

Mexican Jesuit Blessed Miguel Pro attended the first National Congress of the JOC in 1925 while studying in Belgium. He was later executed by the Mexican anti-clerical government on trumped up charges.

JOC leader sent to Germany on compulsory labour during World War II. Organised Catholic Action study circles leading to his arrest and eventual transfer to Dora-Mittelbau camp where he died.

Sara Salkahazi was a Slovak-born Hungarian sister, who helped launch the Girls YCW in Hungary. She was executed for her work hiding and saving Jewish refugees from capture by Nazi forces.

A JOC leader from the Orne region, who volunteered to replace another man who was being sent to Germany for forced labour. Arrested for his working organising Catholic Action study circles, he was sent to Flossenburg Concentration Camp. He died while being transferred to another camp.

A seminarian, Roger Vallée was called up for forced labour in August 1943. In Germany he helped organised study circles and masses for workers leading to his arrest and his eventual transfer to Mauthausen where he died.

Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II) first met Cardijn on a visit to Belgium in 1947. They subsequently met several times in Rome. He was also close to Marcel Uylenbroeck and Pat Keegan.