Maxmilian Kolbe was born in Poland and joined the Franciscan Religious Order as a teenager. His filial devotion to the Mother of God inspired him to add “Mary” to his name while he pronounced his final commitment in 1914. After a few years of pastoral ministry, Kolbe was appointed Director of one of the largest Catholic publishing firms in Poland. He took this opportunity to make Mary more widely known. His press apostolate came to an abrupt end when the Nazis overran Poland in 1939. Though all the Franciscan friars, including Kolbe, were arrested they were released within three months. However, Hitler was bent upon liquidating the influential leaders of the country. Hence, Kolbe was arrested in 1941 for ostensibly helping the Jewish refugees and sentenced to hard manual labour at Auschwitz. In this notorious concentration camp, often called “death trap,” he lived as a luminary, setting an example of faith and hope for his fellow-sufferers. One day a prisoner mysteriously escaped from the camp. In retaliation the German Commander randomly selected 10 innocent prisoners and condemned them to death by starvation as an exemplary punishment. One such victim was Franciszek Gajowniczek, whose heart-rending sobs: “My poor wife and children! I will never see them again,” moved the heart of Kolbe. The compassionate priest stepped forward and said: “I would like to take that man’s place. He has a wife and children.” “Who are you?” growled the Commander. “I am a Catholic priest,” was the prompt reply. The hard-hearted German was stunned and relented to the strange request. All the ten of them were marched off to the starvation bunker where they perished of hunger and thirst. Fr. Kolbe was the last to succumb and his end came on the eve of the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. When he was canonized in 1982, the entire family of the man he had saved was present at St. Peter’s.
Reflection: As a child, Maxmilian Kolbe is said to have told his mother that the Blessed Virgin Mary had appeared to him one day and had asked him to choose one of the two crowns she held in her hands: one white, and the other red – symbols of purity and martyrdom. The boy’s reply was: “I choose both.” These two virtues of purity and self-sacrifice for God and men continue to be the coveted goals of every disciple of Christ.
There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (Jn.15: 13)
