St. Maximilian Kolbe

St. Maximilian Kolbe, born Rajmund Kolbe on January 8, 1894, in Zduńska Wola, Poland, entered the Conventual Franciscan Order in 1907 and took the name Maximilian. Ordained a priest in 1918, he founded the Militia Immaculatae Knights of the Immaculata in 1917, a movement dedicated to spreading devotion to the Virgin Mary and combating religious indifference. In 1927, he established Niepokalanów, a Franciscan monastery near Warsaw, which grew into one of the largest Catholic publishing centers in the world, producing newspapers, magazines, and religious materials. Kolbe also founded a similar mission in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1930, demonstrating his global vision for evangelization. During World War II, Kolbe sheltered refugees, including Jews, at Niepokalanów, defying Nazi occupation. Arrested by the Gestapo in 1941, he was imprisoned at Auschwitz. In July 1941, after a prisoner escaped, ten men were selected for execution in retaliation. When one of the chosen men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out for his family, Kolbe volunteered to take his place. He endured starvation in a bunker for two weeks before being injected with carbolic acid on August 14, 1941. Kolbe’s self-sacrifice and unwavering faith became a symbol of hope and resistance. He was beatified in 1971 and canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 10, 1982, as a martyr of charity, recognized for his profound love and sacrifice in the face of evil.