Innocent Guz (; March 18, 1890 in

Lemberg Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

, Austria – June 6, 1940), born Joseph Adalbert Guz (), was a Polish

Conventual Franciscan The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (O.F.M. Conv.) is a male religious fraternity in the Catholic Church and a branch of the Franciscan Order. Conventual Franciscan Friars are identified by the affix O.F.M. Conv. after their names. They are ...

friar who was martyred by a Nazi guard at the Oranienburg-Sachsenhausen concentration camp (Germany), June 6, 1940. He was beatified in 1999 by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

Biography

Born under the name of Joseph Adalbert Guz on March 18, 1890 in Lemberg, Austria (present-day Lviv, Ukraine), he entered the Franciscans in 1908, where he took the name of Innocent. After studying Philosophy in Kraków, he was ordained a priest in 1914 on the eve of the First World War. He then ministered in various parishes and communities, and then went to Grodno. There he became acquainted with the father

Maximilian Kolbe Maximilian Maria Kolbe (born Raymund Kolbe; ; 8 January 1894 – 14 August 1941) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest, Conventual Franciscan friar, missionary, saint, martyr, and a Nazi concentration camp victim, who volunteered to die in place ...

and entered the Mission of the Immaculate, founded by the latter, to become a confessor and professor from 1933 to 1936. During the occupation of 1939, while the USSR occupied the East and the German Reich the West of Poland, he was transferred to Grodno. He was then arrested and imprisoned on March 21, 1940, by the Soviets who put in place a policy of anti-Christian repression. He escaped and went to the German zone where he was arrested by the Gestapo. He was transferred to Soldau concentration camp and then to Oranienbourg-Sachsenhausen concentration camp. After he arrived at the camp, he was beaten to death by a guard on June 6, 1940.Watkins, Basil. ''The Book of Saints: A Comprehensive Biographical Dictionary'', Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015, p. 330
Considered one of the hundred and eight Polish martyrs of the Second World War, he was beatified on June 13, 1999 by

in Warsaw.

References

External links

Listing of the names of all 108 martyrs
beatified 13 June 1999 by Pope John Paul II at Warsaw, Poland] {{DEFAULTSORT:Guz, Innocent 1890 births 1940 deaths 20th-century venerated Christians Franciscan beatified people Catholic saints and blesseds of the Nazi era 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs Polish Franciscans People who died in Sachsenhausen concentration camp Polish people who died in Nazi concentration camps