orig. Rajmund Kolbe
born Jan. 8, 1894, Zduńska Wola, near Lodz, Russian Empire
died Aug. 14, 1941, Auschwitz; canonized Oct. 10, 1982; feast day August 14
Polish Franciscan priest martyred by the Nazis.
Ordained in 1918, he founded the City of Mary Immaculate religious centre (1927) and became its superior, as well as director of Poland's chief Roman Catholic publishing complex. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1939 and again in 1941 on charges of aiding Jews and the Polish underground. He was imprisoned at Warsaw, then shipped to Auschwitz , where he volunteered his life in place of that of a condemned inmate.