Today, August 14th, in the Catholic Church, is the Feast Day of St. Maximillian Kolbe, who was martyred this day in 1941 .
He died in the Nazi concertation camp at Auschwitz. As the story goes, there was a successful prion break from the camp. In response, the Kommandant ordered that 10 men be executed as an example of what would happen to those who might attempt any further prison breaks One of the 10 selected men begged that his life be spared as he had a wife and children. Fr. Kolbe volunteered to take his place. The 10 men were placed in a starvation bunker. Over the course of 10 days, the men perished leaving Fr. Max alone as the last surviving prisoner. The Kommandant ordered that Fr. Kolbe be given an injection of carbolic acid to stop his heart.
St. Max is the only canonized saint in the Catholic Church that we know held an Amateur Radio license. His homeland was Poland and his call sign was SP3RN. As far as we can tell, he spent his radio time spreading the Gospel. I highly and sincerely doubt that he viewed Amateur Radio in the same way we look upon it as a hobby or pastitme.
St Max was canonized, that is officially declared a Saint, by Pope John Paul II in October of 1982. Present at the ceremony was Franciszek Gajowniczek, the man whose life Fr. Kolbe spared when he took his place.
There is a weekly HF SSB net devoted to St. Maximillian Kolbe. I try to check into the Sunday evening 75 Meter net. There is also a 20 Meter net held earlier on Sunday afternoons. For more information, you can go to:https://www.saintmaxnet.org/
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
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