Maximilian Maria Kolbe (1894–1941) was a Polish Catholic priest, Franciscan friar, and martyr who is remembered for voluntarily giving his life to save another prisoner in Auschwitz during World War II. He is honoured as a saint in the Catholic Church and is widely known as the “Martyr of Charity.”

Born January 8, 1894, in Zduńska Wola, in what was then the Russian Empire (now in Poland).

As a child he reportedly had a vision of the Virgin Mary offering him two crowns: White for purity, Red for martyrdom. He accepted both, which later became symbolic of his life.

Religious Life

He Joined the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (Franciscans).

He founded the Militia Immaculata in 1917, a movement dedicated to spreading devotion to Mary, Mother of Jesus.

He established a large monastery called Niepokalanów near Warsaw, which became one of the largest Catholic monasteries in the world. He also did missionary work in Japan, founding a monastery near Nagasaki.

Arrest and Auschwitz

During World War II, Kolbe sheltered Jewish refugees and Polish refugees from Nazi persecution. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1941. He was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp.

In July 1941, after a prisoner escaped, the Nazis selected 10 men to die by starvation as punishment. One of them, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out for his wife and children.
Kolbe stepped forward and volunteered to take his place.

He and the others were locked in a starvation bunker. After two weeks, Kolbe was the last survivor and was killed by a lethal injection on August 14, 1941.

He was beatified in 1971 by Pope Paul VI and canonized in 1982 by Pope John Paul II, who declared him a “Martyr of Charity.”

He is the patron saint of, prisoners, journalists, families, the pro-life movement, and those struggling with addiction.

His feast day is August 14, the day of his martyrdom.

His famous Quote:

“No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and serve it when we have found it.”