Every August 14, the Catholic Church celebrates Saint Maximilian María Kolbe (1894-1941), priest and conventual Franciscan friar who died voluntarily in the Auschwitz concentration camp (Poland) during World War II. Father Kolbe asked to be exchanged for a prisoner about to be executed.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe was a great promoter of devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and one of the founders of the “City of the Immaculate”, a religious complex built near Warsaw that had a seminary, a monastery, a publishing house and a station. radio.
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Two crowns: one white and one red
Maximilian, whose given name was Raymond, was born on January 8, 1894 in the city of Zdunska Wola, Kingdom of Poland (at that time part of the Russian Empire).
According to his mother’s story – recorded after the saint’s death – when Raymond was a child, he committed a prank that she strongly reproached: “My child, who knows what will become of you!” Days later, her mother saw that little Raimundo had changed his attitude and that he prayed, crying frequently, before a small altar that she had between two closets. She asked him to tell her what was happening to him. Then, with eyes full of tears, Raimundo answered:
“Mom, when you reproached me, I asked the Virgin a lot to tell me what would become of me. The same in the Church, I begged him again. Then the Virgin appeared to me, holding two crowns in her hands: one white and the other red. The white one meant that she would persevere in purity and the red one meant that she would be a martyr. I replied that she accepted both. Then the Virgin looked at me sweetly and disappeared.”
This event marked the life of Maximilian, who from then on professed the greatest devotion to the Immaculate Virgin.
Knight of the Immaculate Conception, son of Saint Francis
Years later, Raimundo discovered himself called to religious life and entered the Order of Conventual Franciscans. In the novitiate (1910) he changed his name to “Maximilian” in honor of Saint Maximilian of Celeia, martyr. In 1911 he professed his first vows and in 1914 his final vows. It is then that he adopts the additional name “Mary,” in honor of the mother of Jesus.
As a student of philosophy and theology in Rome (Pontifical Gregorian University), he founded the “Militia of the Immaculate Conception” with the purpose of promoting love and service to the Virgin and the conversion of souls to Christ. In 1918 he was ordained a priest.
Returning to Poland, he published the monthly magazine “Knight of the Immaculate” and in 1929 founded the “City of the Immaculate” in Niepokalanów, 40 kilometers from Warsaw. He then volunteered as a missionary in Asia. Established in Japan, he founded a new “City of the Immaculate” (Mugenzai No I am) and publishes the magazine “Knight of the Immaculate” in Japanese.
The return to Poland and the start of the War
Maximilian returned to Poland a few years before the start of the Second World War, when the social and political climate was already in turmoil. There he found that “The Knight of the Immaculate” – the publication that he founded and directed – had moved away from his strictly religious line, taking an inappropriate turn towards the political. Maximilian took back the lead to straighten out what had gone wrong, and did not miss the opportunity to criticize from the publication the National Socialist ideas, that is, those put forward by the Nazi party, totally contrary to the faith.
With this, Fr. Kolbe was exposed to persecution by the Nazis. Meanwhile, he heroically continued his priestly service: he encouraged people to keep the faith and draw closer to the Lord. In solidarity with the Jewish people, he refused to be registered on the list of “Germans” – his father was German, his mother Polish – which would have saved him from further problems or harassment. However, his fundamental option was respect for all humanity, without exclusions.
Maximilian maintained a firm position against National Socialism. After some verbal confrontations with the Nazis, he is arrested and sent to the concentration camps. Assigned to Auschwitz, assigned to the barracks, he wanted to be a sign of God’s love in a place that everyone believed to be abandoned by God.
The greatest love: giving life
One day a prisoner from the concentration camp managed to escape and the German soldiers, in retaliation, and as a sign of severity, selected 10 prisoners to starve to death in the dungeons. The tenth number went to Sergeant Franciszek Gajowniczek, also a Pole, who exclaimed: “My God, I have a wife and children.”
Given this, Father Maximiliano offered to be exchanged for the man condemned to death. The priest was taken underground, where he encouraged the other prisoners to stay united in prayer. After several days, without food or water, everyone has died and only he is left alive. To clear the place, the soldiers decided to apply poison, a procedure known as “lethal injection.”
Father Maximilian prayed like this until the end: “Grant me to praise you, Holy Virgin, grant me to praise you with my sacrifice. Grant me for you, only for you, to live, work, suffer, spend myself, die… He died on August 14, 1941, at 47 years of age.
Pope Saint Paul VI declared Father Kolbe Blessed in 1971. He was canonized by Saint John Paul II – his compatriot – in 1982. In the ceremony the Polish Pope honored him with these words: “Maximilian Kolbe did like Jesus, he did not suffer. death but gave life.”
Visit to Auschwitz
On July 19, 2016, Pope Francis visited the “hunger cell” – the place where Saint Maximilian Kolbe was imprisoned until the day he died. The visit took place during the papal visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp, on the occasion of World Youth Day, held that year in Poland.
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