Chinaradioswl: Who is the patron saint of radio amateurs?

dimanche 18 mai 2025

Who is the patron saint of radio amateurs?

I was surprised to discover that radio amateurs have their own saint: Father Massimiliano Kolbe, call sign SP3RN. Kolbe is also the patron saint of journalists and political prisoners.

Maximilian Maria Kolbe, born Rajmund Kolbe (Zduńska Wola, January 8, 1894 – Auschwitz, August 14, 1941), was a Polish priest and Franciscan friar who offered to take the place of a father destined for the hunger bunker in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Maximilian Maria Kolbe was beatified in 1971 by Pope Paul VI, who called him “martyr of love”, and then proclaimed a Saint in 1982 by Pope John Paul II.

On August 14, Father Massimiliano Kolbe Ham Radio callsign SP3RN is remembered as the Saint Patron of Radio Amateurs.

To recall the day of his martyrdom (Auschwitz, August 14, 1941), a special radio callsign for the

Aniversary of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Saint Patron of Hamradio operators, Radioclub Islas Canarias has been awarded a special callsign EG8HKT , Hermano Kolbe Tenerife to be on air during the week of August 14th to 18th.

Thanks to the Radio Club, the local Hamradio operators remark the existance of an image of the Saint in the island of Tenerife. The image is located in the Hermitage of Nuestra Sra. de Guadalupe, Casas de la Cumbre, in the area of Anaga, in Tenerife, Canary Islands.

On 10 October 1982, Pope John Paul II canonized Kolbe and declared him a martyr of charity.^[2] The Catholic Church venerates him as the patron saint of amateur radio operators, drug addicts, political prisoners, families, journalists, and prisoners.^[3] John Paul II declared him "the patron of our difficult century".^[4]^[5] His feast day is 14 August, the day of his martyrdom.