Antonin Bajewski (17 January 1915 – 18 May 1941), born Jan Eugene Bajewski, was a Polish Franciscan friar. He has been declared a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...

by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

following his death in Auschwitz Concentration Camp in 1941 and was

beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to Intercession of saints, intercede on behalf of individua ...

as one of the

108 Martyrs of World War II The 108 Martyrs of World War II, known also as the 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs ( pl, 108 błogosławionych męczenników), were Roman Catholics from Poland killed during World War II by Nazi Germany. Their liturgical feast day is 12 June. The 108 ...

by the Polish

Pope John-Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on 13 June 1999. Their collective feast day is 12 June.

Life

He was born in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional u ...

in 1915 to a middle-class family; he was an only child. He became a Franciscan in 1934, taking the name Brother Antonin. He was ordained a priest in 1939 and became vicar to

Maximilian Kolbe Maximilian Maria Kolbe (born Raymund Kolbe; pl, Maksymilian Maria Kolbe; 1894–1941) was a Polish Catholic priest and Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek in the German death ca ...

. He and Kolbe were both arrested by the Germans in 1941 and Antonin was imprisoned. He boosted the other prisoners' morale and gave them his rations, before being deported to Auschwitz Concentration Camp, where he was tortured and contracted

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over severa ...

, which caused his death 18 May 1941. Nominis
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Les martyrs proclamés par Jean-Paul II, 1999, le 13 juin, « 97. Antonio Bajewski »

References

Bibliography

* Marek Darul, ''Błogosławiony ojciec Antonin Bajewski'', Wydaw. Duszpasterstwa Rolników, 2001 , 63 pages. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bajewski, Antonin Polish beatified people Clergy from Vilnius Polish Friars Minor 20th-century Roman Catholic martyrs Conventual Friars Minor 20th-century Polish Roman Catholic priests 20th-century Lithuanian Roman Catholic priests Polish people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp Deaths from typhoid fever 1915 births 1941 deaths Infectious disease deaths in Poland