Today, we celebrate and pray with one of the Polish Saints - Maximilian Kolbe - who was born on 8 January 1894 in Zduńska Wola, in the Kingdom of Poland which (at the time) was a part of the Russian Empire, the second son of weaver Julius Kolbe and midwife Maria Dąbrowska. His father was an ethnic German and his mother was Polish. He had four brothers. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Pabianice (in central Poland).
Saint Maximilian's life was strongly influenced in 1906 by a vision of the Virgin Mary which he said he had at the age of 12. He later described this incident:
That night I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both.
In 1907, Maximilian and his elder brother Francis both joined the Conventual Franciscans. After a period of formation, Maximilian professed his final vows in 1914 and was known from that day forward as Maximilian Maria Kolbe. He was sent to Rome where he earned a Doctorate in Philosophy (1915) and a second Doctorate in Theology (1919, 1922). At the time, the Freemasons were mounting organized attacks against the Holy Father and there was much unrest in Rome, so in October 1917, Maximilian - who was not yet ordained a priest - organized the Militia Immaculatae whose aim was to work for the conversion of sinners and enemies of the Catholic Church through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin.
In 1918, he was ordained a priest and the following year, he returned to the newly-independent Poland where he continued to actively promote devotion to the Virgin Mary. From 1919 to 1922, he taught at the Krakow seminary but was forced to take a leave from his teaching duties because he was suffering from tuberculosis, however this did not stop his zeal from being shared. In January 1922, he began publishing a weekly periodical entitled Rycerz Niepokalanej (Knight of the Immaculate) which continues even today, and he was also instrumental in establishing Conventual Franciscan seminaries and publishing houses in Poland, China and Japan.
After the outbreak of World War II, which started with the invasion of Poland by Germany, Father Kolbe was one of the few brothers who remained in the monastery, where he organized a temporary hospital. After the town was captured by the Germans, he was briefly arrested by them on 19 September 1939 but released on 8 December. He refused to sign the Deutsche Volksliste, which would have given him rights similar to those of German citizens in exchange for recognizing his German ancestry. Upon his release he continued work at his friary, where he and other friars provided shelter to refugees from Greater Poland, including 2,000 Jews whom he hid from German persecution in their friary in Niepokalanów. Kolbe also received permission to continue publishing religious works, though significantly reduced in scope. The monastery thus continued to act as a publishing house, issuing a number of anti-Nazi German publications. On 17 February 1941, the monastery was shut down by the German authorities. That day Kolbe and four others were arrested by the German Gestapo and imprisoned in the Pawiak prison. On 28 May, he was transferred to Auschwitz as prisoner 16670.
Continuing to act as a priest, Kolbe was subjected to violent harassment, including beating and lashings, and once had to be smuggled to a prison hospital by friendly inmates. At the end of July 1941, ten prisoners disappeared from the camp, prompting SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch, the deputy camp commander, to pick 10 men to be starved to death in an underground bunker to deter further escape attempts. When one of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, My wife! My children!, Kolbe volunteered to take his place.
According to an eye witness, an assistant janitor at that time, in his prison cell, Kolbe led the prisoners in prayer to Our Lady. Each time the guards checked on him, he was standing or kneeling in the middle of the cell and looking calmly at those who entered. After two weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe remained alive. "The guards wanted the bunker emptied, so they gave Kolbe a lethal injection of carbolic acid. Kolbe is said to have raised his left arm and calmly waited for the deadly injection. He died on August 14. His remains were cremated on 15 August, the feast day of the Assumption of Mary.
On 12 May 1955, Kolbe was recognized as a Servant of God and was declared venerable by Pope Paul VI on 30 January 1969. Beatified as a Confessor of the Faith by the same Pope in 1971, he was canonized by Saint John Paul II on 10 October 1982. May this holy man, who willingly received what the Lord gave him (cf Ez 2:8-3:2) intercede for us and help us to be courageous in living our faith.
Have a great day.
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