Maximilian was born in January 1894 in Poland
and was one of 5 sons to his devout parents. He contracted tuberculosis and,
though he recovered, he remained frail all his life. In 1907 Kolbe and his elder
brother Francis decided to join the Conventual Franciscans. During his time as
a student, he witnessed vehement demonstrations against Popes St. Pius X and
Benedict XV in Rome and was inspired to organize the Militia Immaculata, or
Army of Mary, to work for conversion of sinners and the enemies of the Catholic
Church through the intercession of the Virgin Mary. The Immaculata friars
utilized the most modern printing and administrative techniques in publishing
catechetical and devotional leaflets, a daily newspaper with a circulation of
230,000 and a monthly magazine with a circulation of over one million. After
receiving a doctorate in theology, he spread the Movement through a magazine
entitled "The Knight of the Immaculata" and helped form a
community of 800 men, the largest in the world. Maximilian went to Japan
where he built a monastery and then on to India where he furthered the
Movement. In 1936 he returned home because of ill health. After the Nazi
invasion in 1939, he was imprisoned and released for a time. He provided
shelter to refugees from Greater Poland, including 2,000 Jews whom he hid from
Nazi persecution in his friary in Niepokalanów. He was also active as a radio
amateur, with Polish call letters SP3RN, vilifying Nazi activities through his
reports. On February 17, 1941 he was arrested again by the German Gestapo and
imprisoned in the Pawiak prison, and on May 25 was transferred to Auschwitz as
prisoner #16670. In July 1941 a man from Kolbe's barracks vanished, prompting
the deputy camp commander to pick 10 men from the same barracks to be starved
to death in Block 13 (notorious for torture), in order to deter further escape
attempts. One of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, lamenting
his family, and Kolbe volunteered to take his place. The guards accepted this
move, and Francizek was spared and eventually lived until the late 1990s.
During the time in the cell St Maximilian led the men in songs and prayer.
After three weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe and three others
were still alive. Finally he was murdered with an injection of carbolic acid. Father Kolbe was beatified as a confessor by Pope Paul VI in
1971 and was canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 10, 1982 in the presence
of Franciszek Gajowniczek and his family.
Wednesday 14 August 2024
St Maximilian Kolbe
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