Saint of the Day: St. Maximilian Kolbe, Martyr, Patron of the Pro-life Movement

He was born in Russian - occupied Poland on January 7, 1894. His baptismal name was Raymond and he was the second of three sons born to two lay Franciscans in a poor, but pious family. Raymond had a reputation as a mischievous child who was, at times, a trial to his parents. However, in 1906 at Pabianice, at age twelve, he received a vision of the Blessed 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 Kolbe

Joining the Conventual Franciscans, Raymond took the name Maximilian, pronouncing temporary vows in 1911. In 1917, one year before his ordination to the priesthood, Maximilian founded the Militia of Mary Immaculate in Rome to advance Marian devotion. He was ordained in the Eternal City in 1918 and returned to Poland. There he founded the "Cities of the Immaculate Conception" in 1927, institutions that flourished in Poland, Japan, and India which served as centers of Marian-Franciscan evangelization for the Movement.

Father Kolbe employed the mass media, especially the printed word, to spread the ideals of the MI and to encourage others to consecrate themselves to Our Lady. He became director of Poland's chief Catholic publishing complex, which published both a monthly magazine with a circulation of about one million and a daily paper with a circulation of about 125,000.

As Kolbe grew older, his health, which had never been strong, deteriorated. He was diagnosed as suffering from tuberculosis, which was nearly fatal to him. His bout with this serious illness weakened him and he became quite frail. He bore the effects of the disease for the rest of his life, suffering from severe headaches and was covered with abscesses; but these were only minor problems when compared with what was yet to come.

In 1941, Maximilian was arrested by the Gestapo when the Germans invaded Poland and was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. He took the place of a married prisoner, who had a family, in a retaliatory punishment in the camp. Ten prisoners were being executed because one prisoner had escaped. Maximilian volunteered to die in place of the married prisoner and he was condemned to a slow death in a starvation bunker. On August 14, 1941, his impatient captors, eager to see him die, ended his life with a fatal injection of carbolic acid. He was beatified in 1971 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1982.


Maximilian was a ground-breaking theologian. His insights into the Immaculate Conception anticipated the Marian theology of the Second Vatican Council and further developed the Church's understanding of Mary as "Mediatrix" of all the graces of the Trinity, and as "Advocate" for God's people. (From the Militia of Mary Immaculate)

His patronages include: drug addicts, families, imprisoned people, journalists, and the pro-life movement.

Quote:
“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”
~Maximilian Mary Kolbe, when first arrested.

Comments

  1. Hello,

    Saint Max was certainly a great man. I have started a blog called After the Mass. The address is www.afterthemass.blogspot.com.

    Basically I analyze the readings and the saint of the day and make an opinion. Check it out!

    Any suggestions would be appreciated.

    JF

    ReplyDelete

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