Andrew Bobola

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Saint Andrew Bobola

Martyr of Poland
Born	1591, Strachocina, Poland.
Died	16 May 1657, Janów Poleski, Poland
Venerated in	Roman Catholicism
Beatified	30 October 1853 by Pope Pius IX
Canonized	17 April 1938 by Pope Pius XI
Major shrine	Shrine of Saint Andrew Bobola, Warsaw, Poland
Feast	May 16
Patronage	Poland; Archdiocese of Warsaw
Saints Portal

Saint Andrew Bobola (Polish: Andrzej Bobola) (1591–16 May 1657) was a Jesuit missionary and martyr, known as "an Apostle of Pinszczyzna" and "a hunter of souls".

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 also worked as a country missionary, in among other places Polock, Lithuania, where he was probably stationed in 1655, and also in Pinsk, Lithuania (both now in Belarus).

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

At the beginning of the 18th century nobody knew where his corpse was buried. In 1701 Father Martin Godebski, the rector of the Pinsk college reputedly had a vision of Bobola. This caused him to order a search for the body. It was found completely undecomposed, which was widely recognized as a proof of holiness. In 1719 the 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 famine - was delivered to the Holy See. Since 17 June 1938 it has been in Warsaw.

Declared Blessed by Pius IX on 30 October 1853, Bobola was canonized by Pope Pius XI on 17 April 1938. His feast day is held on May 16. Since May 16, 2002 Andrew Bobola is a patron saint of Poland. and the Warsaw archdiocese.

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.