Maximilian Maria Kolbe – The Saint of Auschwitz

St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe

1894 –

January 7, 1894: Maximilian Maria Kolbe was born Raymond Kolbe in Zdunska-Wola, Poland to a poor family. Both his parents were weavers – his father, Julius Kolbe, later joined the army and fought for Polish independence from Russia; his mother, Maria Dubrowska, later became a Benedictine nun. He was the 2nd child in a family of 3 children – like him, his brother Alphonse would also become a priest.

Maria Dubrowska

7 Years Old

1906 –

In the town of Pabianice, Poland, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the 12 year old Maximilian. In his words:

“That night I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me.

Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, and 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.”

1907 – Entered the preparatory seminary of the Conventual Franciscans in Lwow (Ukraine).

Parish Choir (1907)

1910 – Became a novice at the age of 16 and received his name in the Order, Maximilian.

1911 – September 5, 1911: made his first, “simple” vows.

1912 – November, 1912: began the study of philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy.

1914 –

November 1, 1914: Maximilian took his final, "solemn" vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. He also took the names Maximilian Maria to show his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

On the same year, his father was hanged by the Russians for treason.

1915 – October 22, 1915: obtained his Doctorate in Philosophy.

1917 –

October 16, 1917: the young seminarian gathered 6 of his friends in a room at their seminary in Rome's Via San Teodoro to establish the Militia Immaculatae (Immaculata Movement) – a movement devoted to the conversion of sinners through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

On the same year, he began showing signs of suffering from tuberculosis, a disease which nearly killed him and caused him to be frail for the rest of his life.

1918 –

April 28, 1918: Maximilian was ordained a priest in Rome at the age of 24. The next day, he celebrated his first mass in the Basilica of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte at the “Altar of the Miracle”.

1918

1919 –

July 22, 1919: Fr. Maximilian obtained his Doctorate in Theology from the Pontifical Theological Faculty of St. Bonaventure in Rome, Italy. A Marian devotee, he also composed the Immaculata – a prayer of consecration to the immaculately conceived Blessed Virgin Mary; his insights into the Immaculate Conception will later influence the Marian theology of the Second Vatican Council.

1922 – Further spread the Movement through publishing “The Knight of the Immaculata” magazine.

1927 – Founded the Niepokalanow (City of the Immaculate Mother of God) monastery in Teresin, Poland; the community will soon grow to become one of the largest monasteries in the world at that time.

1930 –

Fr. Maximilian travelled to Asia to further spread the Movement.

April 24, 1930: he and his companions landed in Nagasaki, Japan. Despite arriving penniless and not speaking a word of Japanese, he began printing “Seibo no Kishi”, the Japanese version of “The Knight of the Immaculata” within a month.

1930

1931 –

Fr. Maximilian founded a monastery, Mugenzai no Sono (Garden of the Immaculate), on the slopes of Mt. Hikosan in Nagasaki, Japan. His choice of location to build the monastery was ridiculed by many – some thought it was unwise to build on the mountainside facing away from the town; others said it was bad “feng shui” according to local Shinto beliefs. Fr. Maximilian’s choice, however, would later prove to be providential (see 1945).

Later on, he would also travel to India to further spread the Movement.

1936 –

Fr. Maximilian returned to Poland because of poor health. Meanwhile, “Seibo no Kishi” circulation grew to 65,000.

1939 –

September 1, 1939: Nazi Germany invaded Poland marking the start of World War 2.

September 19, 1939: Fr. Maximilian was arrested for the first time and imprisoned.

Friars leaving Niepokalanow (1939)

December 8, 1939: On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Fr. Maximilian and the other friars were released from prison and returned to Niepokalanow the next day where they began to organize a shelter for 3,000 Polish refugees – 2,000 of whom were Jews.

Document issued by the German authorities (1940)

1941 –

February 17, 1941: Fr. Maximilian was arrested again and imprisoned at Pawiak in Warsaw, Poland where he was subjected to cruel treatment by the Gestapo.

May 28, 1941: Fr. Maximilian was transported via trainload of prisoners to Auschwitz Concentration Camp where he was branded/tattooed “Prisoner No. 16670”. He was specially hated by his captors for 2 reasons: being 1) Polish and 2) a Catholic Priest. Despite being ill, he was assigned the hardest of tasks and many times was tortured until he passed out. During one such incident, after being beaten and lashed by his captors, he was thrown in the mud and left for dead. He was smuggled by his companions to the camp hospital where he recovered. Upon returning to camp, Fr. Maximilian wasted no time resuming his ministry to his fellow prisoners by hearing confessions and celebrating mass.  

July 28 – August 1, 1941: During this period, a prisoner from Fr. Maximilian’s block (Block 14) vanished, prompting the Deputy Camp Commander, SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch, to sentence 10 prisoners from the same barracks to death in retaliation.

Karl Fritzsch: “The fugitive has not been found! You will all pay for this. 10 of you will be locked in the starvation bunker without food or water until they die!”

One of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, imprisoned for helping the Polish Resistance, cried out: “My poor wife! My poor children! What will happen to my family?”

Upon hearing this, Fr. Maximilian took off his cap and silently stepped forward.

Karl Fritzsch: “What does this Polish pig want?”

Fr. Maximilian: “I am only a Catholic priest from Poland. Let me take his place. I am old. He has a wife and children.”

According to a witness:

“From astonishment, the commandant appeared unable to speak. After a moment, he gave a sign with his hand. He spoke but one word: ‘Away!’ Gajowniczek received the command to return to the row he had just left. In this manner, Fr. Maximilian took the place of the condemned man.”

As the 10 were led off to basement bunker of Block 13 to die, Fr. Maximilian supported a fellow prisoner who could hardly walk.

Karl Fritzsch

Franciszek Gajowniczek

August 14, 1941: After weeks of starvation, Fr. Maximilian and his fellow prisoners were barely alive. Some were so thirsty that they resorted to drinking their own urine. Yet, not a sound of anguish was heard to come from the bunker; instead there were those of prayers and hymns by the prisoners led by Fr. Maximilian. Finally, the Nazi officials decided that the cell had to cleared-out to make room for other prisoners. As the executioner entered the bunker, Fr. Maximilian, the only one left who was fully conscious, said a prayer and offered his left arm to be injected with a lethal dose of carbolic acid. On the eve of the Feast of the Assumption of the one whom he devotedly loved all his life, Maximilian died.

1945 –

August 9, 1945: the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Mugenzai no Sono sustained minimal damage, with the other side of the mountain on which it was built taking the worst of the blast. It remains one of the most prominent monasteries in Japan until this day.

1969 – January 30, 1969: Pope Paul VI approved the heroic virtues of Fr. Maximilian and declared him “Venerable”

1971 – October 17, 1971: Pope Paul VI beatified Fr. Maximilian as “Confessor” at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy

1982 – October 10, 1982: Pope John Paul II canonized Fr. Maximilian, his compatriot, a saint and “Martyr of Charity”.

Pope John Paul II and Franciszek Gajowniczek at the canonization of St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe (1982)

Every August 14 (St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe’s feast day), until his death on March 13, 1995, Franciszek Gajowniczek went back to Auschwitz to commemorate the life of the saint who died on his behalf.

Franciszek Gajowniczek (1995)

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.” 
(John 15:13)