The story of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, whose feast we celebrate today, stands as one of the most heroic testimonies of the Second World War. In Auschwitz, when ten prisoners were selected to die by starvation in reprisal for the apparent escape of another inmate, one of them, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out in anguish for his wife and children. Kolbe stepped forward and calmly offered to take his place. He had no way of knowing whether Gajowniczek would survive the camp or ever see his family again. There was no guarantee that his sacrifice would lead to a happy ending; Kolbe simply recognised another manâs suffering and chose to give his own life so that he might have the possibility of living.
Remarkably, Gajowniczek did survive. After more than five years in concentration camps, he was liberated and reunited with his wife. Tragically, however, their two sons had been killed shortly before the war ended. He lived until 1995 and spent much of his later life bearing witness to the priest who had died in his place, attending both Kolbeâs beatification in 1971 and his canonisation in 1982. Kolbeâs story recalls the words of Jesus: âThe good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.â Christ himself faced death at only thirty-three, yet freely embraced the Cross so that others might live. Kolbe followed his Lord along that same path of self-giving love.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe, born Raymund Kolbe, was a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar and priest with a profound devotion to the Immaculate Virgin Mary. During the German occupation of Poland, he remained at the monastery of Niepokalanów, where the friars sheltered and supported thousands of displaced people, including many Jews. Through his widely circulated publication, The Knight of the Immaculate, Kolbe also resisted the hatred and falsehoods of Nazi ideology. He was arrested by the Gestapo in February 1941 and eventually deported to Auschwitz. Whilst Kolbe endured the starvation bunker for nearly two weeks, encouraging the condemned men through prayer and hymns, he was the last surviving one of the group. Eventually the guards killed him with an injection of carbolic acid on 14 August 1941, the eve of the Assumption.
I will leave you with the words of a letter which he wrote on 15 June 1941 to his mother, telling her not to worry about him:
âDear Mama, At the end of the month of May I was transferred to the camp of Auschwitz.
Everything is well in my regard. Be tranquil about me and about my health, because the good God is everywhere and provides for everything with love. It would be well that you do not write to me until you will have received other news from me, because I do not know how long I will stay here.
Cordial greetings and kisses, affectionately. Raymund.â
...two months later Maximilian died. Our striking painting by the American artist Neilson Carlin portrays Saint Maximilian Kolbe as an emaciated figure within the horrors of Auschwitz. His face bears the marks of suffering, yet radiates remarkable serenity and compassion. Most striking of all is the halo fashioned from twisted barbed wire... a powerful symbol that transforms an instrument of cruelty into a sign of sanctity.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe. Pray for us.
