Memorial Maximilian Kolbe

Today is the memorial of a man for our time; a modern saint whose life and action were wedded to following Jesus to the point of sacrificing his own life for the life of another, a man who offered his life in exchange for the life of another who was, until that moment, a complete stranger 

Rajmund Kolbe, was born in 1894. His 1941 death in Auschwitz was the result of an heroic act that grew out of a childhood experience when, after being scolded for some childhood mischief, he had a vision of Mary, Mother of Jesus as he was saying his night prayers. She was holding two crowns: a red one that stood for martyrdom and a white symbolizing purity. She asked if he were willing to accept either crown. He replied that he would accept both. In 1910, when he was 16 years old, he entered the Conventual Franciscan novitiate in Lwow where he received the name Maximilian.

Despite chronically poor health from tuberculosis he founded a number of friaries, published a monthly review and, in 1930, became a missionary to Japan where he established monasteries (friaries), published a Japanese language magazine, and where, like Mateo Ricci, the great Jesuit missionary to China, he befriended and entered into dialogue with Buddhist and Shinto priests. When he was called back to Poland as the rumblings of WW II were sounding in the background, the scene was set for him to win the crown of martyrdom. Kolbe was arrested in 1941 along with other Franciscans. After some time in Pawiak prison he was sent to Auschwitz where he would receive the red crown of martyrdom in a manner that is stomach churning to consider. 

Three prisoners escaped from the camp in July 1941. As was characteristic of standard Nazi-sociopath logic--a form of which is apparent in a few groups in the U.S. and elsewhere today--ten prisoners were chosen at random to be put into “The Bunker” an airless underground space (one suspects sanitary facilities were non-existent) where they would be deprived of food and water, condemned to die slow deaths from the combined effects of starvation and dehydration. Franciszek Gajowniczek was among the ten men chosen. A man of 42 years with wife and two children, he piteously cried out that he would never see his wife or sons again. Hearing this, Kolbe stepped from the line-up and negotiated a trade to take Gajowniczek’s place in the hell hole. The switch was allowed. 

The ten men languished for two weeks. No food. No water. No fresh air or natural light. They prayed aloud. As each man died his voice dropped out. Kolbe. the tubercular, was the last to survive. He did not, however, die in the bunker. Because the executioners needed the bunker, most likely for the next random group to be punished, he was taken, barely alive, to sick bay where he was injected with camphor, an early form of today's push to permit the killing of the ill elderly.
. 
The crown of martyrdom that young Kolbe accepted from the hand of our Blessed Mother gave him the courage to die so as to save the life of another man, just as Jesus died to save all mankind from death. 

There is a follow-up. 

Kolbe was beatified by Paul VI in 1971 and canonized by fellow Pole and saint John Paul II on 10 October 1982. 

Franciszek Gajowniczek survived the camps and returned to his wife. Both sons had been killed in action during the war. When he was widowed he remarried. His death at age 95 in 1995, came 53 years after Kolbe entered the bunker in his stead. He was present in Rome at both the beatification and the canonization. 

On a visit to Chicago Gajowniczek told his translator that "as long as he had breath in his lungs he would consider it his duty to tell people about the heroic act of love of St. Maximilian Kolbe”

The child who accepted the crowns of purity and martyrdom became the shepherd who took the place of one of the sheep being led to slaughter.

Today we call that child saint and implore his intercession.

________________________________________________________

Kolbe is one saint on whose memorial I almost always preach.  It is daunting to consider that his memorial and the memorial of another great Polish saint, Edith Stein, fall five days apart.  They both died in Auschwitz one year apart, with Kolbe dying first in 1941.  

Will be away the coming weekend and thus no homily until after I return on 27 August.  Monday 24 August marks 23 years since I entered the novitiate.  Friday 14 August marked 21 years since vows 

The chapel of Mary Help of Christians in Brezje, Slovenia.  Made a very unexpected trip there to celebrate Mass for a group of people participating in a week long seminar.  They were from multiple countries and English was the only language they had in common.  The chapel is tiny.  I celebrated facing away from the congregation.  

A sculpture of the Holy Family outside the shrine in Brezje.  The cross is several hundred yards away and enormous.  However, when one kneels infront of the statue the cross appears the way it does here.  

The main body of the shrine in Brezje.  The chapel with the icon is to the right.

+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD