St. Maximilian Kolbe

Their story

Raymund Kolbe was born in Zduńska Wola, Poland, in 1894. As a boy he had a vision of the Virgin Mary holding two crowns, one white for purity and one red for martyrdom. When she asked which he would choose, he said he would accept both. He became a Franciscan friar and took the name Maximilian. In 1917 he founded the Militia of the Immaculata, a movement to bring people to Christ through Mary. He used the newest tools of his day, printing presses and radio, to share the faith. Near Warsaw he founded a large friary called Niepokalanów, the City of the Immaculata, and he also served as a missionary in Japan. During World War II, Maximilian sheltered refugees, including many Jews. He was arrested and in 1941 sent to Auschwitz. After a prisoner escaped, the guards chose ten men to die by starvation. One of them, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out for his wife and children. Maximilian stepped forward and offered to take his place. In the starvation bunker he led the men in prayer and hymns. After two weeks he was killed by lethal injection on August 14, 1941. Franciszek survived the war and was present when Pope St. John Paul II canonized Maximilian in 1982 as a martyr of charity.