Father Maximilian Kolbe, who died August 14, 1941, was a Polish priest who died in Auschwitz. A theologian and teacher noted for his devotion to Mother Mary, he undertook missionary work in China and Japan before returning to Poland because of ill-health before the war. When war broke out he refused to take advantage of his mixed German-Polish parentage to claim German citizenship. His monastery in Poland hid up to 2,000 Jews from the Nazis and produced anti-Nazi publications and radio broadcasts.
He was arrested on February 17, 1941, and transferred to Auschwitz on May 28. He was subjected to beating and other ill-treatment. When three prisoners escaped, 10 others were selected to be starved to death in an underground bunker. When one of them cried out “My wife! My children!”, Fr. Kolbe volunteered to take his place. He was the last left alive after two weeks of starvation and dehydration and was eventually killed by an injection of carbolic acid. Fr. Kolbe was canonized as saint by Pope John Paul II in 1982.
“If anyone does not wish to have Mary Immaculate for his Mother, he will not have Christ for his Brother.” Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe
For more on the life of St. Maximilian: https://youtu.be/j6oAKCVHbTY
For more on a visit to Auschwitz by Pope Francis: https://youtu.be/tk9rHvWfzxY
