The martyr of Auschwitz, St. Maximilian Kolbe had a tremendous devotion to the Eucharist. While a student at the Franciscan minor seminary, he often visited Jesus in the tabernacle before or after classes, and signed up as a perpetual adorer at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish. After his ordination, he celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with such profound reverence that those in attendance were drawn into a more personal encounter with Christ. He continued his frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament after his ordination and as his priestly ministry expanded.
Kolbe had a strong devotion to the Virgin Mary and he became an active participant in the Militia Immaculata or Army of Mary. “I felt the Immaculata drawing me to herself more and more closely… I had a custom of keeping a holy picture of one of the Saints to whom she appeared on my prie-dieu in my cell, and I used to pray to the Immaculata very fervently.” He felt a strong motivation to ‘fight for Mary’ against enemies of the church. It was Kolbe who sought to reinvigorate and organize the work of the MI (Militia Immaculata). Kolbe helped the Immaculata Friars to publish high pamphlets, books and a daily newspaper – Maly Dziennik. The monthly magazine grew to have a circulation of over 1 million and was influential amongst Polish Catholics.
Eucharistic Adoration was one of his principal aspirations and preoccupations for the “Cities of the Immaculate” in Poland and Japan. For him, Eucharistic Adoration comprised the “most important work area in the friary.” He himself did not fail to make visits to the Most Blessed Sacrament, offering the entire visit expressly to Our Lady, sometimes simply uttering the brief invocation “Mary,” because in that way he gave “the greatest joy possible” to Jesus. St. Maximilian believed strongly in the spiritual strength that one receives through the reception of Christ in the Eucharist. Often, he would bring the Blessed Sacrament to friars who were too sick to celebrate Mass with the community, offering them spiritual strength and fraternal charity.
At the start of the Second World War, Kolbe was residing in the friary at Niepokalanow, the “City of the Immaculata.” By that time, it had expanded from 18 Friars to 650 Friars, making it the largest Catholic house in Europe. When Poland was overrun by the Nazi forces in 1939, Kolbe and the community at Niepokalanów helped to hide, feed and clothe 3,000 Polish refugees, (of which approximately 1,500 were Jews). In 1941, his newspaper “The Knight of the Immaculate” offered strong criticism of the Nazis. On February 17, 1941, he was arrested by the Gestapo for hiding Jewish people. After a brief internment in a notorious Polish prison, he was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp and branded prisoner #16670.
In July 1941, three prisoners appeared to have escaped from the camp; as a result, the Deputy Commander of Auschwitz ordered 10 men to be chosen to be starved to death in an underground bunker. When one of the selected men Franciszek Gajowniczek heard he was selected, he cried out “My wife! My children!” At this point, Kolbe volunteered to take his place saying: “I am a Catholic priest from Poland; I would like to take his place because he has a wife and children.” Rather surprised, the commander accepted Kolbe in place of Gajowniczek. Gajowniczek later said: “I could only thank him with my eyes. I was stunned and could hardly grasp what was going on. The immensity of it: I, the condemned, am to live and someone else willingly and voluntarily offers his life for me – a stranger. Is this some dream? I was put back into my place without having had time to say anything to Maximilian Kolbe. I was saved. And I owe to him the fact that I could tell you all this. The news quickly spread all round the camp. It was the first and the last time that such an incident happened in the whole history of Auschwitz.” The men were led away to the underground bunker where they were to be starved to death. It is said that in the bunker, Kolbe would lead the men in prayer and singing hymns to Mary. When the guards checked the cell, Kolbe could be seen praying in the middle. Bruno Borgowiec, a Polish prisoner who was charged with serving the prisoner later gave a report of what he saw: “The ten condemned to death went through terrible days. From the underground cell in which they were shut up there continually arose the echo of prayers and canticles…Since they had grown very weak, prayers were now only whispered. At every inspection, when almost all the others were now lying on the floor, Father Kolbe was seen kneeling or standing in the center as he looked cheerfully in the face of the SS men. Father Kolbe never asked for anything and did not complain, rather he encouraged the others…One of the SS guards remarked: this priest is really a great man. We have never seen anyone like him…” After two weeks, nearly all the prisoners, except Kolbe had died due to dehydration and starvation. Because the guards wanted the cell emptied, the remaining prisoners and Kolbe were executed with a lethal injection. Those present say he calmly accepted death, lifting up his arm. The deed and courage of Maximillian Kolbe spread around the Auschwitz prisoners, offering a rare glimpse of light and human dignity in the face of extreme cruelty. After the war, his reputation grew and he became symbolic of courageous dignity. Kolbe was beatified as Confessor of the Faith in 1971. He was canonized as a martyr by Pope John Paul II (who himself lived through the German occupation of Poland) in 1981.
August, Matthew. “The Artist and the Stone: St. Maximilian Kolbe.” The Divine Mercy. 14 August 2023. https://www.thedivinemercy.org/articles/artist-and-stone-st-maximilian-kolbe.
Masek, Donna. “St. Maximilian Kolbe and the Eucharist.” Intermountain Catholic. 20 January 2023. www.icatholic.org/article/st-maximilian-kolbe-and-the-eucharist-43116837#:~:text=Maximilian%20believed%20strongly%20in%20the,spiritual%20strength%20and%20fraternal%20charity.
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