Saint Maximilian Kolbe

Raymund Kolbe was born on January 8, 1894, in Zduńska Wola, Poland. As a boy he had a profound experience of the Virgin Mary that marked his whole life. He joined the Conventual Franciscans, taking the name Maximilian, studied in Rome, and in 1917 founded the Militia of the Immaculata to win the world for Christ through Mary. In Poland he built Niepokalanów, a huge friary that printed Catholic magazines, and he founded a mission in Nagasaki, Japan.

After the Nazi invasion, Niepokalanów sheltered refugees, including many Jews. Kolbe was arrested in February 1941 and sent to Auschwitz in May. That summer, after a prisoner escaped, ten men were chosen to die of starvation. When Franciszek Gajowniczek cried out for his wife and children, Kolbe stepped forward and offered to take his place. He led the condemned in prayer until he was killed by lethal injection on August 14, 1941. Saint John Paul II canonized him in 1982, with Gajowniczek present.

Poles around the world honor him with special Masses, and many pilgrims visit his cell in Auschwitz and his friary at Niepokalanów.

He is invoked by families, by people struggling with addiction and by those who work in the media, and the Militia of the Immaculata continues his mission in many countries, including the United States.