Patron Saint of Amateur radio, SP3RN

[AA4HA]

I ran across this interesting tidbit of information when going through the far recesses of the internet.

Father Maximillian Kolbe, SP3RN is recognized by the Catholic church as the patron saint of amateur radio. After the Polish occupation and in the early years of World War II he used his station to report on the atrocities being committed by the Nazis on the Poles. In the end he volunteered to be sent to a concentration camp instead of another man.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe
http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-maximilian-kolbe/
http://www.catholic-pages.com/saints/st_maximilian.asp

Tisha Hayes, AA4HA

[K6LHA]

I ran across this interesting tidbit of information when going through the far recesses of the internet.

Father Maximillian Kolbe, SP3RN is recognized by the Catholic church as the patron saint of amateur radio. After the Polish occupation and in the early years of World War II he used his station to report on the atrocities being committed by the Nazis on the Poles. In the end he volunteered to be sent to a concentration camp instead of another man.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe
http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-maximilian-kolbe/
http://www.catholic-pages.com/saints/st_maximilian.asp

Tisha Hayes, AA4HA

You can find that in Bill Continelli's Wayback Machine articles.  Source for the Wayback series on the 'net is off-line apparently.  I have them all, a concise history of amateur radio free of ARRL bias, in PDF.  If you or anyone else wants a copy I can send it as an e-mail attachment on request.  Send requests to LenAnderson@ieee.org even if I'm changing my own service provider.

73, Len K6LHA

[N2EY]

Father Maximillian Kolbe, SP3RN is recognized by the Catholic church as the patron saint of amateur radio. After the Polish occupation and in the early years of World War II he used his station to report on the atrocities being committed by the Nazis on the Poles.

I guess he didn't agree that amateur radio is "just a hobby"....

In the end he volunteered to be sent to a concentration camp instead of another man.

From the accounts I read, he and the others were already in Auschwitz.

He volunteered to be one of those slowly killed by starvation and dehydration. After three weeks he was still alive - the last one of the condemned group left - so they killed him with an injection.

He knew from the start that he was volunteering for a slow and terrible death but he did it anyway to save a man with a family.

He died the day before the holy day of the Assumption (of Mary). I suspect that meant something to him.

A true hero.

73 de Jim, N2EY

[KF6QEX]

Catholic church as the patron saint of amateur radio

He is the patron saint of drug addicts, political prisoners, families, journalists, prisoners, amateur radio and the pro-life movement.

What a purposeful collection !
They left out the kitchen sink.

[AA4HA]

What a purposeful collection !
They left out the kitchen sink.

  Oh, that was Saint Bon Ami who is the patron saint of sinks. She replaced the heathen Ajax who was the guardian warrior of the sinks of ancient Greece.