[Boatanchors] Patron Saint of Amateur Radio

[JAMES HANLON]

That was an interesting post about Father Kolbe, SP3RN.  If you look up his call on QRZ.com you will see an interesting page with even more information.  Also Wikipedia has the following about him that I find interesting.  My friend from the Classic Exchange, Kazu Matsumura, JA3KNB,first informed me about this facet of Kolbe's life and work.

Jim, W8KGI
Missionary work in Asia[edit<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maximilian_Kolbe&action=edit&section=5>]

Between 1930 and 1936, Kolbe undertook a series of missions<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_(Christian)> to East Asia<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asia>. He arrived first in Shanghai<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai>, China<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China>, but failed to gather a following there.[5]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe#cite_note-psb296-6> Next he moved to Japan<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan>, where by 1931 he had founded a Franciscan monastery<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Friars_Minor_Conventual>, Mugenzai no Sono, on the outskirts of Nagasaki<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagasaki>.

Kolbe had started publishing a Japanese edition of the Knight of the Immaculata (Seibo no Kishi: 聖母の騎士).[2]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe#cite_note-Patron-3>[self-published source<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Self-published_sources>][5]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe#cite_note-psb296-6>[15]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe#cite_note-ewtn-16> The monastery he founded remains prominent in the Roman Catholic Church in Japan.[2]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe#cite_note-Patron-3>[self-published source<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Self-published_sources>] Kolbe had the monastery built on a mountainside. According to Shinto<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto> beliefs, this was not the side best suited to be in harmony with nature. However, when the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombing_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki>, the Franciscan monastery survived, unlike the Immaculate Conception Cathedral<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception_Cathedral,_Nagasaki>, the latter having been on the side of the mountain that took the main force of the blast.[16]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe#cite_note-guardian-17>

In mid-1932, Kolbe left Japan for Malabar<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malabar_region>, India<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India>, where he founded another monastery, which has since closed.[2]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe#cite_note-Patron-3>[self-published source<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Self-published_sources>]