Saint Maximilian Kolbe

Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr Memorial Dt 10:12-22/Mt 17:22-27 (413).

https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/saints/maximilian-mary-kolbe-699
CATHOLICISM SAINTS ST. MAXIMILIAN MARY KOLBE

Maximilian Maria Kolbe OFMConv (born Raymund Kolbe; Polish: Maksymilian Maria Kolbe; 1894–1941) was a Polish Catholic priest and Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek in the German death camp of Auschwitz, located in German-occupied Poland during World War II. He had been active in promoting the veneration of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, founding and supervising the monastery of Niepokalanów near Warsaw, operating an amateur-radio station (SP3RN), and founding or running several other organizations and publications.

On 10 October 1982, Pope John Paul II canonized Kolbe and declared him a martyr of charity. The Catholic Church venerates him as the patron saint of amateur radio operators, drug addicts, political prisoners, families, journalists, and prisoners. John Paul II declared him “the patron of our difficult century”. His feast day is 14 August, the day of his death.

Due to Kolbe’s efforts to promote consecration and entrustment to Mary, he is known as the Apostle of Consecration to Mary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe

Maximilian Maria Kolbe (originally christened Raymund) (1894-1941) is a Catholic saint. He was a Polish Franciscan who worked in Poland and Nagasaki, Japan. He died in Auschwitz because he wanted to save another prisoner. Maximilian saved the life of that prisoner. Maximilian is remembered on August 14, the date of his death. The first-class relics of St Maximilian Kolbe are preserved and distributed by the friary of Niepokalanów, establish by St Maximilian in Poland.

Kolbe was smuggled to a prison hospital to try to stop beatings and lashings as part of being a priest. One day three prisoners disappeared from the camp and then the deputy camp commander decided to choose ten men at random to be starved to death to prevent any more escapes.

One of the men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, “My wife! My children!” When Kolbe heard this he volunteered to take his place.

After two weeks of starvation and dehydration Kolbe was the only one of ten men that was still alive. He was always standing or kneeling in the middle of the cell looking very calm whenever the guards arrived. The guards then decided to give a lethal injection as he was still alive. Kolbe then raised his arm and waited for this deadly injection.

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe

St. Maximilian Kolbe was born in Poland in 1894 and at about the age of 10 had a vision of the Virgin Mary. She offered him a white crown and a red crown, representing purity and martyrdom. He chose both, a foreshadowing of his life to come. In 1910, he joined the Conventual Franciscan Order. He was sent to study in Rome where founded the M.I. on October 16, 1917. Ordained a priest in 1918, Father Maximilian returned to Poland and began his untiring missionary activity, starting a monthly magazine and establishing two evangelization centers dedicated to the Immaculate Virgin: Niepokalanów, the “City of the Immaculata,” in Poland, and Mugenzai no Sono in Japan, and envisioned missionary centers worldwide. To better “win the world for Christ  through the Immaculata,” the friars utilized the most modern techniques. St. Maximilian used short-wave radio and planned to build a motion picture studio. In 1939, during WWII, at Niepokalanów he welcomed thousands of refugees, especially Jews. In 1941, St. Maximilian was arrested by the Nazis and taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp. There he offered his life for another prisoner and was condemned to slow death in a starvation bunker. He died on August 14, 1941, with an injection of carbolic acid. Pope John Paul II canonized him as a Saint and Martyr of Charity on October 10, 1982. St. Maximilian Kolbe is considered a patron of journalists, families, prisoners, the pro-life movement, the chemically addicted and those with eating disorders.

St. Maximilian was a ground-breaking theologian. His insights on the Immaculate Conception anticipated the Marian theology of the Second Vatican Council and further developed the Church’s understanding of Mary’s role in God’s Plan of salvation. His Marian thought re-echoes in the Marian teaching of both St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

https://militiaoftheimmaculata.com/short-bio-of-st-maximilian-kolbe/

If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea.

Is 48:18

St. Maximilian Kolbe is credited with this admonition: “Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.”