John Paul II
1920 — 2005 · Feast day: October 22
Karol Wojtyła lost his mother at eight, his brother at twelve, and his father at twenty, leaving him alone in Nazi-occupied Poland — where he labored in a quarry and factory by day and studied for the priesthood in secret by night. Elected in 1978 as the first Polish pope, he made 104 international journeys, backed Poland's Solidarity movement at a decisive moment in Cold War history, and survived an assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square in 1981. His 27-year pontificate produced the 'Theology of the Body,' the institution of World Youth Day, and 14 encyclicals; he was canonized by Pope Francis on April 27, 2014.