St. Maximilian Kolbe
“I am a Catholic priest. I will take his place.”
The Franciscan who volunteered to die in a starvation bunker in place of a stranger.
The story
Devoted to the Immaculata, Kolbe built the largest friary in the world at Niepokalanów and ran a Catholic press that reached a million readers. Arrested by the Gestapo, he was sent to Auschwitz. When a prisoner escaped and ten men were chosen to starve, Franciszek Gajowniczek cried out for his wife and children. Kolbe stepped forward: "I am a Catholic priest. I will take his place." He led the condemned in hymns for two weeks and was killed by lethal injection on the vigil of the Assumption.
What Maximilian teaches
No one has greater love than this. Kolbe planned his whole life so that when the moment came, love was his reflex.
Patronage
prisoners, journalists, families, the pro-life movement.
Prayer
St. Maximilian Kolbe, martyr of charity, pray that we may love without counting the cost. Amen.