St. Andrew Bobola

St. Andrew Bobola, Martyr
Born in the District of Sandomierz, Poland.

As a youth, he leaves his parental home, renounces his part of the family fortune and joins the Order of the Jesuit Fathers. After his ordination he is sent by his superiors as a missionary into the North-Eastern Provinces of Poland (Polesie, Wilno). For twenty years he performs his mission with such zeal and success, that even his enemies call him "The Apostle of Polesie".
During the Cossacks Invasion, he is captured and tortured in a bestial manner that he renounce his faith. He prefers to die rather than betray his church. His day of ordeal was May 16, 1657 in Janow Poleski.
Pope Pius IX beatified him and during the early 1930's Pope Pius XI canonized him.