Table of Contents
What was St Maximilian life like?
Throughout the rest of his life, he experienced poor health, but never complained, seeing his illness as an opportunity to ‘suffer for Mary’. Kolbe was an active priest and particularly keen to work for the conversion of sinners and enemies of the Catholic Church.
Why did Maximilian Kolbe save gajowniczek?
Maksymilian Kolbe volunteered to take his place. When the punishment was imposed because another inmate had escaped, Mr. Gajowniczek, who was a farmer in civilian life, pleaded that he should be spared because he had a wife and children.
Who saved Kolbe?
Franciszek Gajowniczek
Franciszek Gajowniczek (15 November 1901 – 13 March 1995) was a Polish army sergeant whose life was saved at the Auschwitz concentration camp by Catholic priest Maximilian Kolbe, who volunteered to die in his place.
Why is Saint Maximilian Kolbe important?
On 10 October 1982, Pope John Paul II canonized Kolbe and declared him a martyr of charity. The Catholic Church venerates him as the patron saint of amateur radio operators, drug addicts, political prisoners, families, journalists, and prisoners. John Paul II declared him “The Patron Saint of Our Difficult Century.”
How was Saint Maximilian Kolbe killed?
Death. The guards wanted the bunker emptied, so they gave Kolbe a lethal injection of carbolic acid. Kolbe is said to have raised his left arm and calmly waited for the deadly injection. He died on 14 August 1941.
Who was Maksymilian Maria Kolbe in World War 2?
(Polish: Maksymilian Maria Kolbe [maksɨˌmʲilʲjan ˌmarʲja ˈkɔlbɛ]; 8 January 1894 – 14 August 1941) was a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a stranger in the German death camp of Auschwitz, located in German-occupied Poland during World War II.
Who was Father Kolbe and what did he do?
Not initially selected, this obscure man – Father Maximilian Kolbe, a Catholic priest – voluntarily took the place of one of the ten, the father of a family, who, along with the others prisoners, had been sentenced to death by starvation.
How did Saint Mary appear to Raymund Kolbe?
Mary appeared to him as a boy. Baptized as Raymund Kolbe, our saint was a normal child and the stories of his childhood don’t have the false patina that Flannery O’Connor said exist in the stories of pious children. Yet there is this one stunning exception.
When did Francis Kolbe join the Franciscans?
In 1907, Kolbe and his elder brother Francis joined the Conventual Franciscans. They enrolled at the Conventual Franciscan minor seminary in Lwow later that year. In 1910, Kolbe was allowed to enter the novitiate, where he was given the religious name Maximilian.