ALL POSTS TAGGED: POLAND

Stanislaus is the patron saint of Poland. Some people call him the second John the Baptist because, like John, Stanislaus stood up for his faith.

As a young revolutionary and artist in Poland, Adam Chmielowski was not a young man whom people thought would someday be a saint.

Edith Stein was born in 1891 in Breslau, Poland, to a Jewish family. As a child, she was an extraordinary student, and in 1916 she received a doctorate in philosophy and began to teach at a university. Her family was religious, but Edith had no interest in religion. Eventually she became drawn to the Catholic faith after reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila.

Raymund Kolbe was born in Poland in 1894. His family was very poor, but they were rich in spirit. In 1914, his father was captured and killed by the Russians for fighting for Polish independence.

Helenka Kowalska was born in 1905 in a small Polish town, one of 10 children born into a poor family. She left school after third grade and never learned to write or read very well. She dreamed of becoming a nun and was very disappointed when her parents would not give their permission. They needed the money she earned as a housekeeper for other families. She was obedient to her parents, but her desire to enter religious life never left her.

Many people who knew young Karol Wojtyla in Poland thought he might someday be an actor or a writer. Instead, he became pope. Karol Józef Wojtyła was born in the town of Wadowice in Poland in 1920. He was the youngest of three children, and his mother died when he was only nine. When he graduated from high school and went to college, he studied drama. But as World War II approached, the university was closed, and Karol went to work in a quarry and then a factory to earn money and avoid being sent to Germany to serve in the army.