Maximilian Kolbe.
Born 1894, died 1941.
He was a Polish RC Franciscan friar, ordained in 1918, who pioneered the use of the new medium of radio and amateur radio, for spreading the gospel but also to oppose the Nazis, and this resulted in his arrest and imprisonment in Auschwitz.
He had also provided shelter to refugees, and hid manyJews from the Nazis.
In 1941, he offered his life in place of a condemned stranger, and he died a slow painful death.
He is the RC patron saint of political prisoners, journalists and of amateur radio.
He is also considered a saint in the Lutheran and Anglican traditions, and in recent years a statue of him has been placed on an empty plinth over the Great West Door of the Anglican Westminster Abbey. He is also used extensively as a role-model in 'Alpha Course' materials.
A uniquely ecumenical appeal in a divided church!
Previously on this page, I have covered the great hymn writer Frances Ridley Havergal, and Scottish theologian George Adam Smith