Andrzej Bobola

Andrew Bobola (1590 - 16 May, 1657) was a Jesuit missionary and martyr.

He was born in 1591 into a noble family in Strachocina, Poland. In 1611 he entered the Jesuits in Vilnius. He subsequently took solemn vows in 1630 and then served for several years as an advisor, preacher, superior of a cloister, etc in various places. From 1652 he worked as a country missionary too. Among other places in Polock, Lithuania, where he probably stationed in 1655. Also in Pinsk, Lithuania. Known as "an Apostle of Pinszczyzna" and "a hunter of souls".

In May 16. 1657 he was captured in the village Peredil, Lithuania by the Cossacks of Chmielnicki, subjected to incredible slow and diabolical tortures (amputated limbs, flayed skin, burn wounds, wood slivers driven underneath the fingernails, cut-off nose) and killed (in JanÃÂÃÂ³w Poleski).

At the beginning of XVIII century nobody knew where his corpse was burried. In 1701 Father Martin Godebski, the rector of the Pinsk college had a vision of Andrew Bobola. This caused him to order search for the body. It was found completely undecomposed that was widely recognized as a proof of holiness. In 1719 casket was officially reopened and the body inspected by qualified medical personnel (five physicians and pharmacists). It was still completely undecomposed: pliable, the flesh soft.

In 1922 Bolsheviks moved the corpse to Moscow as an exhibit ("curiosity", just due to its good condition) in the Museum of Hygiene of People's Commissioners of Health. In May 1924 the holy relic - as a kind of "pay" for help during great starvation - was delivered to the Holy Sea. Since June 17. 1938 it has been in Warsaw.

Declared Blessed by Pius IX on October 30. 1853.

Canonized by Pope Pius XII on April 17. 1938 r.

His feastday is held on May 16.

Since May 16, 2002 Andrew Bobola is a saint patron of Poland.

He is a saint patron of Warsaw archdiocese too.

Today some join St Andrew with St. Peter the Aleut, a martyr for the Orthodox faith from the hands of Roman Catholics, in a special devotion for the reunion of the two branches of Christianity.