St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe

Feast Day: August 14

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” – John 15:13

A prisoner cried out that he had a wife and children.

The guards at Auschwitz had selected him to die.

Ten prisoners were being condemned to starvation as punishment after another prisoner disappeared.

One of the chosen men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, broke down.

Then another prisoner stepped forward.

He was a Catholic priest named Maximilian Kolbe.

Kolbe calmly asked to take the man’s place.

The guards agreed.

He entered the starvation bunker with the others.

Days passed.

Kolbe prayed with the condemned men and helped them face death.

Eventually, only a few remained alive.

On August 14, 1941, the guards killed Kolbe with a lethal injection.

Franciszek survived the concentration camp.

Maximilian did not.

The priest who had spent his life preaching total love for Christ and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary finally proved exactly what that love meant:

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.

Who Was St. Maximilian Kolbe?

St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe was born Rajmund Kolbe in 1894 in Poland.

He grew up in a Catholic family and entered the Conventual Franciscans while still young.

He later took the religious name Maximilian Maria.

From an early age, he developed an intense devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, especially under the title of the Immaculate Conception.

That devotion would shape his entire priesthood.

The Two Crowns

One of the most famous stories from Maximilian’s childhood describes a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

According to his own later account, Mary appeared holding two crowns.

One was white, representing purity.

The other was red, representing martyrdom.

She asked which he would choose.

Maximilian chose both.

The story became especially meaningful after the way his life ended.

As with private revelation generally, the Catholic faith does not rest on the vision itself.

His holiness is seen in the life he actually lived.

Becoming a Franciscan

Maximilian joined the Conventual Franciscan Order with his brother.

He was intellectually gifted and was sent to study in Rome.

He earned doctorates in philosophy and theology.

He was ordained a priest in 1918.

But Maximilian was not interested in scholarship merely for its own sake.

He wanted to use everything he learned to bring souls to Christ.

The Militia of the Immaculata

While still in Rome, Maximilian founded the Militia of the Immaculata, or Militia of the Immaculate.

Its purpose was to encourage Catholics to entrust themselves to Mary and work for the conversion and sanctification of souls.

Maximilian believed Mary’s entire mission is to bring people to Jesus.

For him, Marian devotion was intensely Christ-centered.

Total Consecration to Mary

Maximilian encouraged complete consecration to the Immaculate Virgin.

This did not mean worshiping Mary.

Catholics worship God alone.

Consecration to Mary means entrusting oneself to her maternal intercession so that she may help us belong more completely to Christ.

Maximilian wanted to become an instrument in Mary’s hands for the service of Jesus.

Using Modern Media

Maximilian understood something unusual for his time:

modern technology could be used for evangelization.

He founded magazines.

Used printing presses.

Organized large-scale Catholic publishing.

And dreamed of using radio and other communications technology to spread the Gospel.

He believed Catholics should use the best tools available to preach the faith.

Knight of the Immaculata

One of his most important publications was the Knight of the Immaculata.

It grew to an enormous circulation.

Through articles, catechesis, apologetics, and devotional writing, Maximilian tried to reach ordinary Catholic families.

His ministry showed that evangelization could happen through media as well as from a pulpit.

Niepokalanów

Maximilian founded a Franciscan community in Poland called Niepokalanów, meaning “City of the Immaculate.”

It became a major center of Catholic publishing and evangelization.

Hundreds of friars eventually lived and worked there.

They prayed.

Printed publications.

Trained missionaries.

And used communication as part of their apostolate.

Missionary to Japan

Maximilian did not remain in Poland.

In 1930, he traveled to Japan.

He founded another monastery near Nagasaki and began publishing a Japanese edition of his Catholic magazine.

He had little money and did not know the language when he arrived.

Still, the mission grew.

His years in Japan showed the same missionary restlessness that characterized the rest of his life.

Returning to Poland

Maximilian eventually returned to Poland because of health problems and responsibilities at Niepokalanów.

By then, Europe was moving toward another war.

In September 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland.

The Second World War had begun.

The Friary During the War

Niepokalanów was disrupted by the invasion.

Maximilian and his friars helped shelter people displaced by the war.

The community continued its religious work under increasingly dangerous conditions.

Maximilian knew his public Catholic activity placed him at risk.

He continued anyway.

Arrest

In February 1941, the Gestapo arrested Maximilian.

He was imprisoned and eventually transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

There he became prisoner 16670.

His priesthood did not protect him.

In fact, priests were often singled out for especially harsh treatment.

A Priest in Auschwitz

Even in the camp, Maximilian tried to remain a priest to the other prisoners.

He prayed with them.

Encouraged them.

Shared what little he had.

He heard confessions when possible.

People later remembered his calm faith in a place designed to strip prisoners of hope and dignity.

The Escaped Prisoner

In the summer of 1941, a prisoner from Maximilian’s barracks was believed to have escaped.

The camp authorities selected ten men to die by starvation in retaliation.

Among them was Franciszek Gajowniczek.

When Franciszek realized he had been chosen, he cried out about his wife and children.

Maximilian stepped out of line.

“I Am a Catholic Priest”

Maximilian approached the commandant and offered himself in the man’s place.

Accounts remember him identifying himself simply as a Catholic priest and explaining that he wanted to die instead of the other prisoner.

The request was accepted.

Franciszek returned to the line.

Maximilian went to the starvation bunker.

The Starvation Bunker

The condemned men were stripped and locked inside without food or water.

Ordinarily, such bunkers filled with cries of despair.

Witnesses later reported something different from Maximilian’s cell.

Prayer.

Hymns.

The Rosary.

Maximilian encouraged the others as they slowly died.

The priest who had spent years leading people spiritually continued doing it in the final room of his life.

His Death

After roughly two weeks, Maximilian was still alive.

The guards needed the cell emptied.

On August 14, 1941, a prison official killed him with an injection of carbolic acid.

Tradition remembers Maximilian calmly extending his arm.

His body was cremated the following day, August 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Franciszek Gajowniczek

The man Maximilian saved survived Auschwitz.

Franciszek Gajowniczek lived for decades after the war and repeatedly told the story of the priest who had taken his place.

He was present when Maximilian was beatified and continued speaking about him until late in life.

Kolbe’s sacrifice therefore was not symbolic.

A specific man lived because Maximilian volunteered to die.

Martyr of Charity

Pope St. John Paul II canonized Maximilian Kolbe in 1982.

He described him as a martyr of charity.

Maximilian had not simply been executed because he happened to be in the camp.

His final death came through a deliberate act of self-sacrifice for another person.

He freely stepped forward.

Marian Devotion and Christ

Maximilian’s extraordinary devotion to Mary can only be understood correctly when centered on Christ.

He did not see Mary as competing with Jesus.

He believed Mary belonged entirely to God and therefore could help Christians belong entirely to Him too.

The Immaculate Virgin always points toward her Son.

That was the purpose of Maximilian’s entire Marian apostolate.

What St. Maximilian Kolbe Teaches Us

St. Maximilian teaches us that love eventually has to become concrete.

It is easy to say:

“I love my neighbor.”

It is harder when love costs something.

Maximilian spent years preaching sacrifice.

At Auschwitz, the final test came.

He stepped forward.

He also teaches us to use every available means for evangelization.

Printing presses.

Magazines.

Radio.

Technology.

Whatever can be used faithfully for Christ can become part of the mission.

And his life reminds us that devotion to Mary should produce courage.

If Mary leads us to Christ, then she leads us toward the Cross.

When Is the Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe?

The Catholic Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, Priest and Martyr, on August 14.

He is remembered as a Conventual Franciscan priest, missionary, founder of the Militia of the Immaculata, Catholic media apostle, and martyr of charity at Auschwitz.

Prayer Inspired by St. Maximilian Kolbe

Lord Jesus Christ,

give us the courage and charity of St. Maximilian Kolbe.

Teach us to love others when love becomes costly.

Help us use every gift and every tool available to spread Your Gospel.

Through the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, draw us closer to You.

Strengthen Christians who suffer persecution.

And give us the grace to live so completely for You that fear no longer controls us.

St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us. Amen.