Antonin Bajewski

Antonin Bajewski (17 January 1915 – 18 May 1941), born Jan Eugene Bajewski, was a Polish Franciscan friar. He has been declared a martyr by the Catholic Church following his death in Auschwitz Concentration Camp in 1941 and was beatified as one of the 108 Martyrs of World War II by the Polish Pope John-Paul II on 13 June 1999. Their collective feast day is 12 June.

Bajewski around 1940

Life

He was born in Vilnius in 1915 to a middle-class family; he was an only child.[1][2] He became a Franciscan in 1934, taking the name Brother Antonin. He was ordained a priest in 1939 and became vicar to Maximilian Kolbe. 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,[3] before being deported to Auschwitz Concentration Camp, where he was tortured[4] and contracted typhoid fever, which caused his death 18 May 1941.[5][1]

References
  1. Site officiel du Vatican, Les martyrs proclamés par Jean-Paul II, 1999, le 13 juin, « 97. Antonio Bajewski ».
  2. Szwoch, Ryszard (2006). Z Auschwitz do nieba: święci i błogosławieni (in Polish). Bernardinum. ISBN 978-83-7380-372-5.
  3. Amour, Lucia (1 April 2011). In ascolto di Padre Kolbe (in Italian). Effata Editrice IT. ISBN 978-88-7402-685-2.
  4. Martirologio romano: riformato a norma dei decreti del Concilio ecumenico Vaticano II e promulgato da Papa Giovanni Paolo II (in Italian). Libreria editrice vaticana. 2004. ISBN 978-88-209-7925-6.
  5. (in French) Nominis, « Bienheureux Antonin Bajewski ».

Bibliography
  • (in Polish) Marek Darul, Błogosławiony ojciec Antonin Bajewski, Wydaw. Duszpasterstwa Rolników, 2001 ISBN 8388743198, 9788388743191, 63 pages.
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