Today's Saint of the Day Profile
Today's Saint of the Day Profile Saint Maximilian Kolbe
Profile:
Second of three sons born to a poor but pious Catholic family in
Russian occupied Poland. His parents, both Franciscan lay tertiaries,
worked at home as weavers. His father, Julius, later ran a religious
book store, then enlisted in the army of Pilsudski, fought for Polish
independence from Russia, and was hanged by the Russians as a traitor in
1914. His mother, Marianne Dabrowska, later became a Benedictine nun.
His brother Alphonse became a priest.
Raymond was known as a mischievous child, sometimes considered wild,
and a trial to his parents. However, in 1906 at Pabianice, at age twelve
and around the time of his first Communion, he received a vision of the
Virgin Mary that changed his life.
"I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to
me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked if I was
willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I
should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I
said that I would accept them both."
- Saint Maximilian
He entered the Franciscan junior seminary in Lwow, Poland in 1907
where he excelled in mathematics and physics. For a while he wanted to
abandon the priesthood for the military, but eventually relented to the
call to religious life, and on 4 September 1910 he became a novice in
the Conventual Franciscan Order at age 16. He took the name Maximilian,
made his first vows on 5 September 1911, his final vows on 1 November
1914.
Studied philosophy at the Jesuit Gregorian College in Rome from 1912
to 1915, and theology at the Franciscan Collegio Serafico in Rome from
1915 to 1919. On 16 October 1917, while still in seminary, he and six
friends founded the Immaculata Movement (Militia Immaculatae, Crusade of
Mary Immaculate) devoted to the conversion of sinners, opposition to
freemasonry (which was extremely anti-Catholic at the time), spread of
the Miraculous Medal (which they wore as their habit), and devotion to
Our Lady and the path to Christ. Stricken with tuberculosis which nearly
killed him, and left him in frail in health the rest of his life.
Ordained on 28 April 1918 in Rome at age 24. Received his Doctor of
Theology on 22 July 1922; his insights into Marian theology echo today
through their influence on Vatican II.
Maximilian returned to Poland on 29 July 1919 to teach history in the
Krakow seminary. He had to take a medical leave from 10 August 1920 to
28 April 1921 to be treated for tuberculosis at the hospital at Zakpane
in the Tatra Mountains. In January 1922 he began publication of the
magazine Knight of the Immaculate to fight religious apathy; by 1927 the
magazine had a press run of 70,000 issues. He was forced to take
another medical leave from 18 September 1926 to 13 April 1927, but the
work continued. The friaries from which he had worked were not large
enough for his work, and in 1927 Polish Prince Jan Drucko-Lubecki gave
him land at Teresin near Warsaw. There he founded a new monastery of
Niepokalanow, the City of the Immaculate which was consecrated on 8
December 1927. At its peak the Knight of the Immaculate had a press run
of 750,000 copies a month. A junior seminary was started on the grounds
in 1929. In 1935 the house began printing a daily Catholic newspaper,
The Little Daily with a press run of 137,000 on work days, 225,000 on
Sundays and holy days.
Not content with his work in Poland, Maximilian and four brothers
left for Japan in 1930. Within a month of their arrival, penniless and
knowing no Japanese, Maximilian was printing a Japanese version of the
Knight; the magazine, Seibo no Kishi grew to a circulation of 65,000 by
1936. In 1931 he founded a monastery in Nagasaki, Japan comparable to
Niepokalanow. It survived the war, including the nuclear bombing, and
serves today as a center of Franciscan work in Japan.
In mid-1932 Max left Japan for Malabar, India where he founded a
third Niepokalanow house. However, due to a lack of manpower, it did not
survive.
Poor health forced him to curtail his missionary work and return to
Poland in 1936. On 8 December 1938 the monastery started its own radio
station. By 1939 the monastery housed a religious community of nearly
800 men, the largest in the world in its day, and was completely
self-sufficient including medical facilities and a fire brigade staffed
by the religious brothers.
Arrested with several of his brothers on 19 September 1939 following
the Nazi invasion of Poland. Others at the monastery were briefly
exiled, but the prisoners were released on 8 December 1939, and the men
returned to their work. Back at Niepokalanow he continued his priestly
ministry, The brothers housed 3,000 Polish refugees, two-thirds of whom
were Jewish, and continued their publication work, including materials
considered anti-Nazi. For this work the presses were shut down, the
congregation suppressed, the brothers dispersed, and Maximilian was
imprisoned in Pawiak prison, Warsaw, Poland on 17 February 1941.
On 28 May 1941 he was transferred to Auschwitz and branded as
prisoner 16670. He was assigned to a special work group staffed by
priests and supervised by especially vicious and abusive guards. His
calm dedication to the faith brought him the worst jobs available, and
more beatings than anyone else. At one point he was beaten, lashed, and
left for dead. The prisoners managed to smuggle him into the camp
hospital where he spent his recovery time hearing confessions. When he
returned to the camp, Maximilian ministered to other prisoners,
including conducting Mass and delivering communion using smuggled bread
and wine.
In July 1941 there was an escape from the camp. Camp protocol,
designed to make the prisoners guard each other, required that ten men
be slaughtered in retribution for each escaped prisoner. Francis
Gajowniczek, a married man with young children was chosen to die for the
escape. Maximilian volunteered to take his place, and died as he had
always wished - in service.
Born
7 January 1894 at Zdunska Wola, Poland as
Raymond Kolbe
Died
• 14 August 1941 by lethal carbonic acid injection after three weeks
of starvation and dehydration at the Auschwitz, Poland death camp
• body burned in the ovens and ashes scattered
• some relics have been preserved and distributed by the friars at Niepokalanów, Poland
Beatified
• 17 October 1971 by Pope Paul VI
• his beatification miracles include the July 1948 cure of intestinal
tuberculosis of Angela Testoni, and August 1950 cure of calcification of
the arteries/sclerosis of Francis Ranier
Canonized
• 10 October 1982 by Pope John Paul II
• declared a martyr of charity
Patronage
• drug addicts, and against drug addiction
• families
• journalists
• prisoners, including political prisoners
• pro-life movement
Readings
Kolbe is the patron saint of our difficult century.
- Pope John Paul II
Courage, my sons, Don't you see that we are leaving on a mission?
They pay our fare in the bargain. What a piece of good luck! The thing
to do now is to pray well in order to win as many souls as possible. Let
us, then, tell the Blessed Virgin that we are content, and that she can
do with us anything she wishes.
- Saint Maximilian Kolbe
The most deadly poison of our times is indifference. And this
happens, although the praise of God should know no limits. Let us
strive, therefore, to praise Him to the greatest extent of our powers.
- Saint Maximilian Kolbe
For Jesus Christ I am prepared to suffer still more.
- Saint Maximilian Kolbe
No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and should do is
to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict
is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hecatombs of
extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth
of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are the
victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our
innermost personal selves?
- Saint Maximilian Kolbe in the last issue of the Knight
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