Our Patron Saint:
St. Maximillian Kolbe
When he was twelve years old, he saw a vision of the Virgin Mary:
"That night I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me.
Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red.
She asked me 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."
The deathcamp Auschwitz became the killing centre during WWII where the largest numbers of European Jews were murdered by the Nazis. One Christian man who died here became a martyr to the truth of evils of Nazism - a true hero for our time, a saint who lived what he preached: total love toward God and man ...
Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish priest who died as prisoner 16770 in Auschwitz, on August 14, 1941. When a prisoner escaped from the camp, the Nazis selected ten others to be killed by starvation in reprisal for the escape. One of the ten selected to die, Franciszek Gajowniczek, began to cry: "My wife! My children! I will never see them again!" At this Maximilian Kolbe stepped forward and asked to die in his place. His request was granted... [1]
Father Maximilian Kolbe is a Saint! – Such was the proclamation by Pope Saint John Paul II on October 10, 1982, followed by the tolling of the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica in exultation of the martyr of Auschwitz! Met by the thunderous applause of thousands in attendance, including some of the surviving prisoners of the Nazi concentration camp – whose minds and hearts are forever branded with the memory of his saintly and heroic self-donation – their former cellmate had now been raised to the Altars of the Church! Once again, Christ reigns! Once again the enemy has been defeated! [2]
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To read more about our patron saint's fascinating life in the Immaculata, please visit the websites noted at the bottom of this page.
[1] http://auschwitz.dk/Kolbe.htm [2] https://saintmaximiliankolbe.com/biography/
Armstrong, Regis J.; Peterson, Ingrid J. (2010). The Franciscan Tradition.
Liturgical Press. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-8146-3922-1.
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