Maximilian Kolbe

St. Maximilian Kolbe

Beatified: October 17, 1971, by Pope Paul VI

Canonized: October 10, 1982, by Pope John Paul II

Feast Day: August 14

Maximilian Kolbe (1894 – 1941) Founder of the Knights of the Immaculata, Franciscan martyr of World War II

Maximilian Kolbe was born Raymond Kolbe on January 7, 1894, in Zdunska-Wola, then found in Russian Poland, to a poor family. At age 10 he had a vision that altered his life. One day when he was misbehaving, his mom said, “Raymond, what is to become of you?” The boy went to church asking the exact same question and prayed about it. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in a vision and held out two crowns to him. One was white for purity, the other red for martyrdom. She asked him which would he pick, and he answered, “I select both.”.

Raymond went to a trade school and entered secondary institution in 1907. Raymond took the habit on September 4, 1910, and embraced the name Maximilian.

He was and sustained inner trials sent to Rome to study. He earned a doctorate in approach and later on a doctorate in theology. He saw indifference as the most deadly poison, and in 1917 established an order, the Knights of the Immaculata, to counteract it. Members dedicated themselves to Mary Immaculate and pledged to work for the salvation of souls, particularly amongst the adversaries of the Church, through prayer and apostolic work. The order was made a Primary Union by Pope Pius XI (r. 1922 – 39) in 1926.

Maximilian contracted tuberculosis in 1920, and his health was significantly weakened for the rest of his life. He spent 2 years in a sanatorium. For the rest of the 1920s and into the 1930s, Maximilian worked to develop his order, as well as went to Japan. He was recalled to Poland in 1939 to head the provincial chapter, the City of the Immaculata.

He was apprehended once more in 1941 and imprisoned in Warsaw. On May 28, 1941, Maximilian was among about 320 prisoners who were carried to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

He was regularly beaten, attacked by pet dogs, offered the worst job information and made to hold remains. Once he was beaten and left for dead; his fellow detainees held him back to camp, where he recuperated. Throughout the cruelties, Maximilian preserved a positive outlook and was a source of strength to many prisoners.

In July 1941, a prisoner escaped. Camp rules were that if a missing detainee was not caught and returned, 10 individuals in the cell block would be killed in their place. Immediately Maximilian Kolbe stepped forward and volunteered himself as a replacement.

The 10 men were herded into a malnourishment cell, stripped of their clothes and left to die. They got no food nor water. One by one they died; some were kicked to death by the guards. Maximilian led the survivors in prayer and hymns, telling them that their souls will not be killed.

After two weeks four men remained, including Maximilian Kolbe. The impatient commandant wanted the cell for more prisoners, and so he ordered that the four should be executed by injection of lethal carbolic acid. When his turn came, Maximilian Kolbe calmly offered his arm to the executioner. He died on August 14, 1941, and was cremated the following day.

The Knights of the Immaculata have actually spread around the world. The order is now called the Militia of the Immaculata.