St. Maximilian of Kolbe

St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894–1941) was born in Poland to a devout Christian family. As a boy he had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She showed him two crowns, one white for virginity and one red for martyrdom, and asked him which he would be willing to accept. He replied that he would accept both. He later joined the Franciscans. While studying for the priesthood in Rome, he organized a group of friars and founded the Militia of the Immaculata in 1917 to crusade for consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to oppose the evil of Freemasonry. From it came the Knights of the Immaculate magazine that reached a circulation of 750,000, as well as a radio show, both of which became a resource for strengthening faith across Poland. He also established a monastery which grew to 800 friars, the largest in the world at the time. In 1930 he traveled to the Far East and founded another monastery in Nagasaki, Japan. He returned to Poland in 1936. During World War II, St. Maximilian Kolbe housed over 3,000 Polish refugees at his monastery. He was eventually imprisoned because of his effective work, and was sent to Auschwitz in 1941. There he endured special cruelty because he was a Catholic priest. St. Maximilian ministered to the prisoners, and offered his life in place of a father who was condemned to death by firing squad. After being starved for two weeks and still found alive, he was killed by lethal injection on August 14, 1941. St. Maximilian Kolbe is the patron of families, drug addicts, prisoners, journalists, and the pro-life movement. His feast day is August 14th.