Today is the feast day of one of the great saints of the 20th Century, the Conventual Franciscan Maximilian Kolbe. I can remember hearing his name for the first time and his canonization by Saint John Paul. Years later I visited the cell in which he lived his last days at the concentration camp. A rather moving and unforgettable experience.
Saint Maximilian is known for his great devotion to our Blessed Mother in devotion to her Immaculate Heart. There is no coincidence that Kolbe’s feast day comes before Mary’s Assumption (Dormition) -the glorification of her body and soul, assumed into heaven. We know that “Hail Mary!” were the last words on the lips of Saint Maximilian, as he offered his arm to the executioner for the injection. He has taught us what is meant by the words we pray to Immaculate Mary when we say “now and at the hour of our death.”
Kolbe and others were accused by the powers of Nazi Germany of promoting anti-Nazi causes and housing Jews; he was severely mistreated for being a Catholic priest and remaining steadfast to the Faith: Christ was everything, not just some abstract priority. Kolbe regularly celebrated the Holy Sacrifice in secret and heard confessions of fellow prisoners. In 1941, the time came for him to make a sacrifice of his own life, in place of a married prisoner who was father to young children. Kolbe was executed by lethal injection after three weeks of starvation and dehydration. A horrible death.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.