Saint20th century · Feast August 14
Also known as Raymund Kolbe
Franciscan friar who offered his life in place of another prisoner at Auschwitz.
Kolbe founded a large religious publishing apostolate in Poland and mission houses abroad. Arrested by the Gestapo in 1941, he was sent to Auschwitz and volunteered to die in place of a fellow prisoner condemned to a starvation bunker.
Occupied Poland under Nazi terror was the setting for Kolbe's final witness.
Marian consecration and a life poured out for others without calculation.
Kolbe stands with those who resist evil at great cost and who choose love in impossible places.
People turn to St Maximilian Kolbe in matters of:
God of mercy, by the example of St Maximilian Kolbe give us hearts ready to love without counting the cost. Amen.
1894
Born in Poland
1918
Ordained priest
1941
Dies at Auschwitz
1982
Canonised
August 14 · Other
St Maximilian Kolbe
Source-quality status: unverified prototype
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