Ignacy Jeż

Ignacy Ludwik Jeż was a Polish Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Koszalin-Kołobrzeg. Jeż was born in the Polish town of Radomyśl Wielki on 31 July 1914. He was ordained a Catholic priest on 20 June 1937. In 1942 he was sent first to Niemców labour camp and then interned in Dachau concentration camp as prisoner no. 37196, where he met fellow priest Joseph Kentenich. After the camp was liberated by the American forces in 1945, Jeż returned to priesthood, and from 1946 until 1960 he was the director of a Catholic Gymnasium in Katowice. On 5 June 1960, under Pope John XXIII, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński and future Cardinal Bolesław Kominek appointed Jeż Titular Bishop of Alba Maritima. In 1967 he was elevated to Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Wrocław. In 1972 he was appointed Bishop of Koszalin-Kołobrzeg, in northern Poland. He held this post until 1 February 1992, when, at the age of 77, his resignation request was accepted by Pope John Paul II.