Confessor and Martyr – August 14
Early Life
Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe was born Raymond Kolbe on January 8, 1894, in Zduńska Wola, Poland, into a devout Catholic family of modest means. His parents, Julius Kolbe and Maria Dąbrowska, were pious and industrious, instilling in their sons the virtues of prayer, work, and devotion to Our Lady. As a boy, Raymond was lively and intelligent, yet inclined to deep reflection.
At the age of about ten, after an incident of childish mischief, his mother reproved him. Deeply struck by her words, the young boy turned to prayer before an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was then, he later recounted, that Our Lady appeared to him holding two crowns: one white, symbolizing purity, and one red, symbolizing martyrdom. She asked which he desired. He replied: “I choose both.” From that moment, he dedicated himself entirely to her service.
Religious Vocation
In 1910, Raymond entered the Conventual Franciscan seminary in Lwów, taking the name Maximilian Maria. He excelled in studies and was sent to Rome, where he earned doctorates in philosophy and theology. Witnessing the hostile demonstrations of Freemasons in the streets of Rome, he conceived a burning desire to fight the enemies of the Church through prayer, teaching, and publishing. In 1917, together with six fellow friars, he founded the Militia Immaculatæ (Army of the Immaculate), whose aim was “to bring about the conversion of sinners, heretics, schismatics, and especially Freemasons, and the sanctification of all, under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”
Apostolic Works
Returning to Poland, Fr. Kolbe became an indefatigable missionary of the Immaculate Virgin. He founded Niepokalanów (“City of the Immaculate”), a vast friary devoted to publishing Catholic literature and forming souls in Marian devotion. The friary became the largest in the world, housing over 700 friars at its peak. His monthly magazine, Knight of the Immaculate, reached a circulation of over a million copies.
In 1930, animated by zeal for the salvation of souls, Fr. Kolbe journeyed to Japan and founded another City of the Immaculate near Nagasaki, which remarkably survived the atomic bombing of 1945. He also sent missions to India, always entrusting his endeavors to the maternal intercession of the Blessed Virgin.
Martyrdom
When the Second World War broke out, Niepokalanów became a refuge for thousands, including Jews and displaced persons. In 1941, the Gestapo arrested Fr. Kolbe for his outspoken defense of the Faith and his charitable harboring of those in danger. He was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp, where he endured forced labor, beatings, and humiliations with supernatural patience.
In July 1941, a prisoner from his barracks escaped, and in reprisal the Nazis selected ten men to die by starvation. One of them, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out for his wife and children. Moved by charity, Fr. Kolbe stepped forward and offered to take his place. His request was granted.
In the starvation bunker, he led his fellow condemned in prayers, hymns, and the Rosary, strengthening them in their final agony. After two weeks, he alone remained alive. On August 14, the eve of the Assumption of Our Lady, the guards ended his life with a lethal injection of carbolic acid. His body was cremated the next day.
Glorification
Pope Paul VI beatified him in 1971 as a Confessor, and Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1982 as a Martyr of Charity, recognizing his heroic sacrifice as the perfect imitation of Christ: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Saint Maximilian Kolbe is venerated as the patron saint of journalists, prisoners, and the pro-life movement, and as a shining exemplar of Marian devotion and missionary zeal.