Raymond Kolbe was born January 8, 1894 at Zdunska Wola, in
Russian occupied Poland. In 1906 around
the time of his First Holy Communion, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to
him. She offered him the graces of
virginity and martyrdom and asked which of the two he wanted. Kolbe asked for both.
In 1907 he joined the Order of Friars Minor and took the
name Maximilian. He was ordained to the
priesthood in 1918. In 1936 Father
Maximilian became superior of Kiepokalanow (in Poland) and director of what was
then Poland’s chief Catholic publishing complex.
When Germany invaded Poland in September of 1939, Father
Maximilian realized that his monastery would be taken over. In advance of this, he sent most of the
friars home. On February 17, 1941 he was
arrested on charges of aiding Jews and the Polish underground. On May 28th he arrived at
Auschwitz. Fr. Maximilian volunteered to take the place of a married man who
was ordered to be starved to death. He
died at the age of forty-nine years a martyr of charity.
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