Blessed Jan Eugeniusz Bajewski was a member of the Franciscan Conventuals, taking the name Antonin. Priest. Worked with Saint Maximilian Kolbe. Imprisoned, tortured and executed by the Nazis for the crime of being a Catholic priest. Martyr. He was born on 17 January 1915 in Vilnius, Lithuania and died 8 May 1941 in the Oswiecim (Auschwitz) death camp, Malopolskie, occupied Poland.∼Blessed Antonin Jan Eugeniusz Bajewski OFM. Conv., was born in Vilnius, Poland, on January 17, 1915, the only child of Jan Bajewski and Aniela Wilkowska, a well-to-do couple. He was baptised on March 14, 1918 in the parish church of the Holy Spirit at Vilnius. When he was seven years of age he began attending primary school. Pursuing his studies at the Royal Gymnasium J. Lelewel and at the Classical Gymnasium A. Mickiewicz in Vilnius, Bajewski was a very able person and could speak fluently a number of languages. On June 16, 1933 he obtained the school leaving certificate and decided to enter religion in spite of his family's opposition.
This is what he wrote about that period of his life: "In 1933, after the school leaving certificate, I was faced by a dilemma: to become a friar or a diocesan priest. As some of my classmates came from the diocesan seminary, and I often went to visit them, I opted for the second solution even if, with my heart, I was more inclined to a Religious Order". So he began to study in the Major Seminary of Vilnius. However, his vocation for religious life was so strong that, after one year of studies, he left the Seminary and entered the Franciscan Conventual Order. He was accepted in the Polish Province on August 17, 1934, and on September 1, of that same year, received the Franciscan habit and the religious name of Antonin.
Spending his noviciate in Niepokalanów, where he took his Temporary Vows on September 2, 1935, he moved to Krakow for his theological studies at the Franciscan Seminary of Krakow. There he took solemn vows on November 1, 1938 and was ordained to the priesthood on May 1, 1939. His first destination was Niepokalanów, where he arrived on the following July 2. Soon afterwards, the Guardian of the Convent, Father Maximilian Kolbe, chose him as his substitute, naming him second vicar of the convent.
The Brethren of the community remember Father Antonin as a thoughtful priest who distinguished himself for the deep faith, devotion, spirit of prayer and delicacy towards others. Owing to his weak health, Father Antonin spent the first months after his arrival in Niepokalanów in the nursing home, called "Lasek" as it was immersed in the wood, a couple of kilometers away from the Convent. He was still there in the outbreak of the Second World War, on September 1, 1939. When the Germans arrested and deported almost all the Friars who remained in the Convent of Niepokalanów on September 19, those who resided in the "Lasek", including Father Antonin, avoided prison and the persecutions which awaiting his fellow Brethren.
However, in a second moment, he couldn't avoid arrest. On February 17, 1941 the Gestapo deported him together with Father Maximilian, Father Pius Bartosik and other two friars from Niepokalanów to the Pawiak prison in Warsaw. During his stay in prison, Father Antonin encouraged his fellow prisoners, showing great patience, inviting them to behave correctly and offering them his rations of food. While in prison, he continued to wear the Franciscan Habit, although it was the cause of further ill treatments by the SS. In the night between the 4th and 5th of April 1941, he was transported with Father Pius to Auschwitz, where he was tattooed with the number 12764. When he arrived in the lager he was brutally beaten by the SS with the Franciscan Rosary he wore on his side.
Besides these ill treatments, Father Antonin became ill with abdominal typhus. In spite of his disease he devoted himself to the patients of the lager, as the Good Samaritan, giving them bodily and spiritual help, above all through the sacrament of confession, seriously running the risk of loosing his life. He patiently bore the sufferings of life in the lager, often repeating: "I'm nailed to the cross together with Christ".
Exhausted due to the camp's hard labour, Father Antonin died in the Auschwitz concentration camp on May 8, 1941 aged 26. By then, feeling he was getting closer to death, he said to the Father Konrad Szweda, who had confessed him for the last time: "Tell my brethren of Niepokalanów that I died here, faithful to Christ and Mary". He died with the names of Jesus and Mary on his lips.
Father Antonin was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 13, 1999, along with 108 other Polish Martyrs of the Second World War, including six other Franciscan Conventuals.
This is what he wrote about that period of his life: "In 1933, after the school leaving certificate, I was faced by a dilemma: to become a friar or a diocesan priest. As some of my classmates came from the diocesan seminary, and I often went to visit them, I opted for the second solution even if, with my heart, I was more inclined to a Religious Order". So he began to study in the Major Seminary of Vilnius. However, his vocation for religious life was so strong that, after one year of studies, he left the Seminary and entered the Franciscan Conventual Order. He was accepted in the Polish Province on August 17, 1934, and on September 1, of that same year, received the Franciscan habit and the religious name of Antonin.
Spending his noviciate in Niepokalanów, where he took his Temporary Vows on September 2, 1935, he moved to Krakow for his theological studies at the Franciscan Seminary of Krakow. There he took solemn vows on November 1, 1938 and was ordained to the priesthood on May 1, 1939. His first destination was Niepokalanów, where he arrived on the following July 2. Soon afterwards, the Guardian of the Convent, Father Maximilian Kolbe, chose him as his substitute, naming him second vicar of the convent.
The Brethren of the community remember Father Antonin as a thoughtful priest who distinguished himself for the deep faith, devotion, spirit of prayer and delicacy towards others. Owing to his weak health, Father Antonin spent the first months after his arrival in Niepokalanów in the nursing home, called "Lasek" as it was immersed in the wood, a couple of kilometers away from the Convent. He was still there in the outbreak of the Second World War, on September 1, 1939. When the Germans arrested and deported almost all the Friars who remained in the Convent of Niepokalanów on September 19, those who resided in the "Lasek", including Father Antonin, avoided prison and the persecutions which awaiting his fellow Brethren.
However, in a second moment, he couldn't avoid arrest. On February 17, 1941 the Gestapo deported him together with Father Maximilian, Father Pius Bartosik and other two friars from Niepokalanów to the Pawiak prison in Warsaw. During his stay in prison, Father Antonin encouraged his fellow prisoners, showing great patience, inviting them to behave correctly and offering them his rations of food. While in prison, he continued to wear the Franciscan Habit, although it was the cause of further ill treatments by the SS. In the night between the 4th and 5th of April 1941, he was transported with Father Pius to Auschwitz, where he was tattooed with the number 12764. When he arrived in the lager he was brutally beaten by the SS with the Franciscan Rosary he wore on his side.
Besides these ill treatments, Father Antonin became ill with abdominal typhus. In spite of his disease he devoted himself to the patients of the lager, as the Good Samaritan, giving them bodily and spiritual help, above all through the sacrament of confession, seriously running the risk of loosing his life. He patiently bore the sufferings of life in the lager, often repeating: "I'm nailed to the cross together with Christ".
Exhausted due to the camp's hard labour, Father Antonin died in the Auschwitz concentration camp on May 8, 1941 aged 26. By then, feeling he was getting closer to death, he said to the Father Konrad Szweda, who had confessed him for the last time: "Tell my brethren of Niepokalanów that I died here, faithful to Christ and Mary". He died with the names of Jesus and Mary on his lips.
Father Antonin was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 13, 1999, along with 108 other Polish Martyrs of the Second World War, including six other Franciscan Conventuals.
Blessed Jan Eugeniusz Bajewski was a member of the Franciscan Conventuals, taking the name Antonin. Priest. Worked with Saint Maximilian Kolbe. Imprisoned, tortured and executed by the Nazis for the crime of being a Catholic priest. Martyr. He was born on 17 January 1915 in Vilnius, Lithuania and died 8 May 1941 in the Oswiecim (Auschwitz) death camp, Malopolskie, occupied Poland.∼Blessed Antonin Jan Eugeniusz Bajewski OFM. Conv., was born in Vilnius, Poland, on January 17, 1915, the only child of Jan Bajewski and Aniela Wilkowska, a well-to-do couple. He was baptised on March 14, 1918 in the parish church of the Holy Spirit at Vilnius. When he was seven years of age he began attending primary school. Pursuing his studies at the Royal Gymnasium J. Lelewel and at the Classical Gymnasium A. Mickiewicz in Vilnius, Bajewski was a very able person and could speak fluently a number of languages. On June 16, 1933 he obtained the school leaving certificate and decided to enter religion in spite of his family's opposition.
This is what he wrote about that period of his life: "In 1933, after the school leaving certificate, I was faced by a dilemma: to become a friar or a diocesan priest. As some of my classmates came from the diocesan seminary, and I often went to visit them, I opted for the second solution even if, with my heart, I was more inclined to a Religious Order". So he began to study in the Major Seminary of Vilnius. However, his vocation for religious life was so strong that, after one year of studies, he left the Seminary and entered the Franciscan Conventual Order. He was accepted in the Polish Province on August 17, 1934, and on September 1, of that same year, received the Franciscan habit and the religious name of Antonin.
Spending his noviciate in Niepokalanów, where he took his Temporary Vows on September 2, 1935, he moved to Krakow for his theological studies at the Franciscan Seminary of Krakow. There he took solemn vows on November 1, 1938 and was ordained to the priesthood on May 1, 1939. His first destination was Niepokalanów, where he arrived on the following July 2. Soon afterwards, the Guardian of the Convent, Father Maximilian Kolbe, chose him as his substitute, naming him second vicar of the convent.
The Brethren of the community remember Father Antonin as a thoughtful priest who distinguished himself for the deep faith, devotion, spirit of prayer and delicacy towards others. Owing to his weak health, Father Antonin spent the first months after his arrival in Niepokalanów in the nursing home, called "Lasek" as it was immersed in the wood, a couple of kilometers away from the Convent. He was still there in the outbreak of the Second World War, on September 1, 1939. When the Germans arrested and deported almost all the Friars who remained in the Convent of Niepokalanów on September 19, those who resided in the "Lasek", including Father Antonin, avoided prison and the persecutions which awaiting his fellow Brethren.
However, in a second moment, he couldn't avoid arrest. On February 17, 1941 the Gestapo deported him together with Father Maximilian, Father Pius Bartosik and other two friars from Niepokalanów to the Pawiak prison in Warsaw. During his stay in prison, Father Antonin encouraged his fellow prisoners, showing great patience, inviting them to behave correctly and offering them his rations of food. While in prison, he continued to wear the Franciscan Habit, although it was the cause of further ill treatments by the SS. In the night between the 4th and 5th of April 1941, he was transported with Father Pius to Auschwitz, where he was tattooed with the number 12764. When he arrived in the lager he was brutally beaten by the SS with the Franciscan Rosary he wore on his side.
Besides these ill treatments, Father Antonin became ill with abdominal typhus. In spite of his disease he devoted himself to the patients of the lager, as the Good Samaritan, giving them bodily and spiritual help, above all through the sacrament of confession, seriously running the risk of loosing his life. He patiently bore the sufferings of life in the lager, often repeating: "I'm nailed to the cross together with Christ".
Exhausted due to the camp's hard labour, Father Antonin died in the Auschwitz concentration camp on May 8, 1941 aged 26. By then, feeling he was getting closer to death, he said to the Father Konrad Szweda, who had confessed him for the last time: "Tell my brethren of Niepokalanów that I died here, faithful to Christ and Mary". He died with the names of Jesus and Mary on his lips.
Father Antonin was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 13, 1999, along with 108 other Polish Martyrs of the Second World War, including six other Franciscan Conventuals.
This is what he wrote about that period of his life: "In 1933, after the school leaving certificate, I was faced by a dilemma: to become a friar or a diocesan priest. As some of my classmates came from the diocesan seminary, and I often went to visit them, I opted for the second solution even if, with my heart, I was more inclined to a Religious Order". So he began to study in the Major Seminary of Vilnius. However, his vocation for religious life was so strong that, after one year of studies, he left the Seminary and entered the Franciscan Conventual Order. He was accepted in the Polish Province on August 17, 1934, and on September 1, of that same year, received the Franciscan habit and the religious name of Antonin.
Spending his noviciate in Niepokalanów, where he took his Temporary Vows on September 2, 1935, he moved to Krakow for his theological studies at the Franciscan Seminary of Krakow. There he took solemn vows on November 1, 1938 and was ordained to the priesthood on May 1, 1939. His first destination was Niepokalanów, where he arrived on the following July 2. Soon afterwards, the Guardian of the Convent, Father Maximilian Kolbe, chose him as his substitute, naming him second vicar of the convent.
The Brethren of the community remember Father Antonin as a thoughtful priest who distinguished himself for the deep faith, devotion, spirit of prayer and delicacy towards others. Owing to his weak health, Father Antonin spent the first months after his arrival in Niepokalanów in the nursing home, called "Lasek" as it was immersed in the wood, a couple of kilometers away from the Convent. He was still there in the outbreak of the Second World War, on September 1, 1939. When the Germans arrested and deported almost all the Friars who remained in the Convent of Niepokalanów on September 19, those who resided in the "Lasek", including Father Antonin, avoided prison and the persecutions which awaiting his fellow Brethren.
However, in a second moment, he couldn't avoid arrest. On February 17, 1941 the Gestapo deported him together with Father Maximilian, Father Pius Bartosik and other two friars from Niepokalanów to the Pawiak prison in Warsaw. During his stay in prison, Father Antonin encouraged his fellow prisoners, showing great patience, inviting them to behave correctly and offering them his rations of food. While in prison, he continued to wear the Franciscan Habit, although it was the cause of further ill treatments by the SS. In the night between the 4th and 5th of April 1941, he was transported with Father Pius to Auschwitz, where he was tattooed with the number 12764. When he arrived in the lager he was brutally beaten by the SS with the Franciscan Rosary he wore on his side.
Besides these ill treatments, Father Antonin became ill with abdominal typhus. In spite of his disease he devoted himself to the patients of the lager, as the Good Samaritan, giving them bodily and spiritual help, above all through the sacrament of confession, seriously running the risk of loosing his life. He patiently bore the sufferings of life in the lager, often repeating: "I'm nailed to the cross together with Christ".
Exhausted due to the camp's hard labour, Father Antonin died in the Auschwitz concentration camp on May 8, 1941 aged 26. By then, feeling he was getting closer to death, he said to the Father Konrad Szweda, who had confessed him for the last time: "Tell my brethren of Niepokalanów that I died here, faithful to Christ and Mary". He died with the names of Jesus and Mary on his lips.
Father Antonin was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 13, 1999, along with 108 other Polish Martyrs of the Second World War, including six other Franciscan Conventuals.
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