Saint Maximilian Kolbe, 1894-1941,
A Polish Franciscan with tuberculosis who made incredible work, including in Japan and India, Apostle of Consecration to Mary, and was burned in Auschwitz instead of a young man with children

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. -Saint Maximilian

    He entered the Franciscan junior seminary in Lwow, Poland in 1907 where he excelled in mathematics and physics.

    Immaculata Movement:
    While still in seminary, he and six friends founded the Immaculata Movement (Militia Immaculatae, Crusade of Mary Immaculate) devoted to the conversion of sinners, opposition to freemasonry (which was extremely anti-Catholic at the time), spread of the Miraculous Medal (which they wore as their habit), and devotion to Our Lady and the path to Christ.  Apostle of Consecration to Mary.
    Stricken with tuberculosis which nearly killed him, and left him in frail in health the rest of his life.            

    Received his Doctor of Theology; his insights into Marian theology echo today through their influence on Vatican II.

    Knight of the Immaculate Magazine: Maximilian returned to Poland on 29 July 1919 to teach history in the Crakow seminary. He began publication of the magazine Knight of the Immaculate to fight religious apathy; by 1927 the magazine had a press run of 70,000 issues. He was forced to take another medical leave from 18 September 1926 to 13 April 1927, but the work continued. The friaries from which he had worked were not large enough for his work.
    At its peak the Knight of the Immaculate had a press run of 750,000 copies a month

    The City of the Immaculate: In 1927 Polish Prince Jan Drucko-Lubecki gave him land at Teresin near Warsaw. There he founded a new monastery of Niepokalanow, the City of the Immaculate a community of 800 men, the largest in the world.  .

    A Seminary and a Daily Catholic Nrewpaper:
    A junior seminary was started on the grounds in 1929. In 1935 the house began printing a daily Catholic newspaper, The Little Daily with a press run of 137,000 on work days, 225,000 on Sundays and holy days.

    Japan and India: Not content with his work in Poland, Maximilian and four brothers left for Japan in 1930. Within a month of their arrival, penniless and knowing no Japanese, Maximilian was printing a Japanese version of the Knight; the magazine, Seibo no Kishi grew to a circulation of 65,000 by 1936. In 1931 he founded a monastery in Nagasaki, Japan comparable to Niepokalanow. It survived the war, including the nuclear bombing, and serves today as a center of Franciscan work in Japan.
    In mid-1932 he left Japan for Malabar, India where he founded a third Niepokalanow house. However, due to a lack of manpower, it did not survive.

    Radio Station: Poor health forced him to curtail his missionary work and return to Poland in 1936. On 8 December 1938 the monastery started its own radio station.

    Arrested: The brothers housed 3,000 Polish refugees, two-thirds of whom were Jewish, and continued their publication work, including materials considered anti-Nazi. For this work the presses were shut down, the congregation suppressed, the brothers dispersed, and Maximilian was imprisoned in Pawiak prison, Warsaw, Poland on 17 February 1941.
    On 28 May 1941 he was transferred to Auschwitz and branded as prisoner 16670. He was assigned to a special work group staffed by priests and supervised by especially vicious and abusive guards. His calm dedication to the faith brought him the worst jobs available, and more beatings than anyone else. At one point he was beaten, lashed, and left for dead. The prisoners managed to smuggle him into the camp hospital where he spent his recovery time hearing confessions. When he returned to the camp, Maximilian ministered to other prisoners, including conducting Mass and delivering communion using smuggled bread and wine.
    In July 1941 there was an escape from the camp. Camp protocol, designed to make the prisoners guard each other, required that ten men be slaughtered in retribution for each escaped prisoner. Francis Gajowniczek, a married man with young children was chosen to die for the escape. Maximilian volunteered to take his place, and died as he had always wished - in service... by lethal carbonic acid injection after three weeks of starvation and dehydration at Auschwitz; body burned in the ovens and ashes scattered.

Born 7 January 1894 at Zdunska Wola, Poland as Raymond Kolbe

Died 14 August 1941 by lethal carbonic acid injection after three weeks of starvation and dehydration at Auschwitz; body burned in the ovens and ashes scattered

Beatified 17 October 1971 by Pope Paul VI; his beatification miracles include the July 1948 cure of intestinal tuberculosis of Angela Testoni, and August 1950 cure of calcification of the arteries/sclerosis of Francis Ranier

Canonized 10 October 1982 by Pope John Paul II; declared a martyr of charity

Images Gallery of 12 images (246 kb) related to Saint Maximilian

Additional Information

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintm01.htm
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintOfDay/default.asp?id=1107
Militia of the Immaculata, by Rycerz Niepokalanej
A Rule of Life for Those Consecrated to the Immaculate Virgin, by Saint Maximilian Kolbe

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Readings

Kolbe is the patron saint of our difficult century.

-Pope John Paul II

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Courage, my sons, Don't you see that we are leaving on a mission? They pay our fare in the bargain. What a piece of good luck! The thing to do now is to pray well in order to win as many souls as possible. Let us, then, tell the Blessed Virgin that we are content, and that she can do with us anything she wishes.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe

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The most deadly poison of our times is indifference. And this happens, although the praise of God should know no limits. Let us strive, therefore, to praise Him to the greatest extent of our powers.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe

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For Jesus Christ I am prepared to suffer still more.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe

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No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hecatombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?

Saint Maximilian Kolbe in the last issue of the Knight