Written by Sr. Rosemary O.P.
Years ago, I had the privilege of standing before the cell in Auschwitz where Fr. Maximilan Kolbe suffered a horrific death. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life not only to be in that concentration camp, but to see his place of martyrdom.
Raymond Kolbe was born on January 8, 1894, the second son of a poor weaver in Poland. He seems to have been a bit mischievous as a child. One day, after his mother had scolded him, his behavior changed. He later said: '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 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.' This message in his dream colored his whole life, and he did become a martyr.
In 1910 he entered the Franciscan seminary and was ordained in 1919, taking the name Maximilian. He was asked to build a friary near Warsaw, which housed over 700 Franciscans and printed eleven periodicals and a daily newspaper.
In 1930 he went to Asia, where he founded friaries in Nagasaki and India, eventually returning to Poland. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, he knew that the friary would be seized, and sent most of the friars home. He was imprisoned briefly and then released, and returned to the friary, where he and a few other friars began to organize a shelter for 3,000 Polish refugees, among whom were 2,000 Jews. The friars shared everything they had with the refugees.
The friary soon came under suspicion and Fr. Kolbe was imprisoned at Auschwitz. There he would share his meager rations with other prisoners, and at night he seldom rested. He moved from bunk to bunk, saying: 'I am a Catholic priest. Can I do anything for you?' In the harshness of that slaughterhouse, Father Kolbe heard confessions and maintained the gentleness of Christ. He pleaded with his fellow prisoners to forgive their persecutors and to overcome evil with good.
When a prisoner escaped while he was there, ten men from his barracks were picked to suffer death by starvation as both punishment and deterrent. When one of those men let out a cry of agony for his family, Fr. Maximilian stepped forward and offered to take the man’s place, which did happen.
What followed were weeks of unimaginable horror, as the men were confined in a small space suffering the pains of dehydration and starvation. Fr. Kolbe was not only one of those who suffered, he ministered to them as well. After three weeks there were only four prisoners left alive. It was on this day in 1941, the day before the Church celebrates St. Maximilian’s beloved Blessed Mother Mary, that Fr. Kolbe and three fellow prisoners were killed with lethal injections.
The prisoner whose life St. Maximilian saved survived Auschwitz and was actually present at his canonization in 1971. After the war this man did find his wife but his two sons had been killed. He lived to be 95 years old and every year on August 14 he went back to Auschwitz. He spent the rest of his life paying homage to Father Kolbe, honoring the man who died on his behalf.
St. Maximilian Kolbe, like Ezekiel in our first reading, tasted bitter difficulties in his life, but he used them to witness the transforming power of God. May he continue to inspire us as we aspire to sacrifice and do good for others. Amen.
