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2011 Marks the 70th Anniversary of the Death of St. Maximilian Kolbe
St. Maximilian Kolbe
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the death of Maximilian Kolbe. On August 14th, we celebrate this brave Conventual Franciscan’s feast day.
Maximilian’s baptismal name was Rajmund. He was born in Zdunska Wola, Poland in 1894 to a hard working family of modest means. As a 12 year old he entered the Conventual Franciscans’ junior seminary in Lviv along with his brother Francis. Moving to Rome as a teenager, he professed his Solemn Vows in that city and took on the religious name we known him by today – Maximilian Maria.
Maximilian Kolbe was an intellectual. By the time he was 25 years old he had completed two doctorates - one in philosophy (Pontifical Gregorian University) and another in theology (Pontifical University of St. Bonaventure). He also founded the Militia Immaculata – an institution that brings about religious conversion with the aid of the Virgin Mary.
The basilica at Niepokalanow
After World War I with Poland newly independent, Maximilian returned to the country and made his home at the Niepokalanow friary – today an hour’s drive west of Warsaw. An energetic man of incredibly deep faith, Maximilian started a number of publications at Niepokalanow – these were printed on site - as well as a radio station. Both the station and the publications evangelized to the world.
Maximilian also evangelized to others through mission work. He is well known for his multiple journeys to Japan. On one of these Maximilian founded a friary in Nagasaki. The friary survived World War II and is still a focal point for Catholics in Japan.
The Conventual Franciscans' friary in Nagasaki, Japan - founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe
When World War II erupted in Europe, Maximilian Kolbe offered refuge in the Niepokalanow friary to people – including 2000 Jews - escaping violence. Through an underground radio station he promoted freedom and no doubt provided comfort to countless people facing dangerous times.
In 1941, the Gestapo – the secret German police – arrested Maximilian Kolbe and locked him up in the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp. Sometime that year, a prisoner at the camp disappeared. As punishment the authorities chose 10 other prisoners for starvation. Maximilian Kolbe volunteered to take the place of Franciszek Gajowniczek - one of the 10 prisoners. He and three fellow prisoners survived without food for 21 days. Eventually the authorities killed Maximilian Kolbe with an injection of carbolic acid.
Forty-one years after his death in 1982, Pope John Paul II canonized Maximilian Kolbe. Franciszek Gajowniczek was at the ceremony and thanked Maximilian for offering him life.
(Source of all related images on webpage and homepage: wikipedia.org and Conventual Franciscans.)
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