Joseph Kugler was born on 15 January 1867 in the
Kingdom of Bavaria as the son of a
blacksmith. He had at least one sister and one brother. His father died in 1874 and his mother died sometime in the 1880s. In 1880 he began to work as an apprentice
locksmith. However he became injured in an accident and was forced to stop working following an accident where he fell from a scaffold and injured his leg - the issues with his leg transcended to his foot and remained with him throughout his life resulting in a slight limp. In 1884 he returned home and moved in with his sister who was married to a blacksmith and he later began working once again but this time with his brother. Kugler joined the
Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God - on 11 January 1893 - but faced initial resistance in entering due to the injuries he had sustained in the past which were believed would impede his admission. The provincial later relented and allowed for Kugler to commence his time in the
novitiate; Kugler assumed the religious name of "Eustachius" in 1893. He made his profession in 1898. He made a particular focal point of his life as a religious to aid handicapped and disabled people and his appointment as the provincial of the
Bavarian section of the congregation - from 1905 until 1925 - allowed him to care for more people since he managed fifteen hospitals the order managed. He even constructed a hospital - from 1927 until 1930 - that the order ran as part of his pastoral mission. During
World War II he opposed
Adolf Hitler and the
Nazi regime and was quite vocal in his criticism and denunciation of the latter's policies regarding
euthanasia of both the old and the sick. This bought him into unwanted contact with the
Gestapo who interrogated Kugler several times due to this opposition. Kugler died in
Regensburg due to
cancer on 10 June 1946. ==Beatification==