Aug 14 - St. Maximilian Kolbe - artwork by Brenda Nippert. Happy Feast Day St. Max

Aug 14 - “St. Maximilian Kolbe” © artwork by Brenda Nippert. Happy Feast Day St. Max!

As a prisoner in the WWII Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, Polish Conventual Franciscan Father Maximilian Kolbe volunteered to take the place of a young husband and father when ten prisoners were chosen to die by starvation. Not only did Maximilian accept the sentence willingly, but he ministered to the others given the same fate. Instead of the usual screams of agony, hymns were heard coming from the doomed group's bunker. He was the last to die, and after enduring two weeks of starvation, prisoner #16670 gladly lifted his arm for a lethal injection because his impatient torturers were tired of waiting. Though this heroic act will never be forgotten, it was not only this single rebellion that earned Maximilian Kolbe his Heavenly crown. He had been fighting against evil all of his life.

As a young man, he witnessed a hate demonstration in which anti-Catholic Masons stormed Vatican City. This inspired him to raise an army to wage spiritual war against all enemies of the Church. He chose Mary Immaculate as a patron, and named his group The Militia of the Immaculata; they still perpetuate his ideals today. He created his own media empire with newspapers, magazines and radio stations to counteract the “culture of death.” Of course, it was these activities that brought about his arrest by the Nazis and landed him in Auschwitz to make his final mark on history. Radically standing in the face of evil was Maximilian's way of life.

His feast day is August 14.

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