Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe

Mission through word and service

Born Raimund Kolbe in 1894 in Zduńska Wola, in present-day Poland, he entered the Conventual Franciscans and took the name Maximilian. During his studies in Rome he helped found the Militia Immaculatae, a movement encouraging dedication to Christ through Mary.

His missionary work made energetic use of publishing. In Poland he developed the community of Niepokalanów and its apostolate through the printed word; he also worked in Japan. These projects belonged to a vocation shaped by Franciscan religious life and Marian devotion, seeking to bring faith into the places where people lived and worked.

Sources: Vatican News: Saint Maximilian Kolbe

Love in the face of violence

Under Nazi occupation, Kolbe was imprisoned and transported to Auschwitz on 28 May 1941. After a prisoner escaped, camp authorities selected ten men to die by starvation as a reprisal. One of those selected was Franciszek Gajowniczek, a husband and father. Kolbe stepped forward and offered to take his place.

The offer was accepted. Kolbe spent the following weeks in the starvation cell in Block 11 and was killed by a lethal injection on 14 August 1941. His voluntary sacrifice did not remove the cruelty of the camp, but it preserved another man's life within that place of systematic violence. Paul VI beatified him in 1971; John Paul II canonized him on 10 October 1982. The Church remembers him as a priest and martyr on 14 August.

Sources: Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial: Kolbe's imprisonment and death

A moment for reflection

Pray for prisoners, people threatened by war and all whose dignity is denied. Kolbe's sacrifice invites an examination of the smaller choices available to us: whether to defend someone being humiliated, share what we have or speak truthfully when silence is easier. Ask for courage and charity in the responsibilities of this day, and entrust the victims of violence to God's mercy.