A well-known image of Saint Max-
A hint of the joys of knowing Jesus
and loving Mary shows
at the corners of his mouth
and in his open gaze.
A SHORT LIFE OF SAINT MAX
Born Raymond Kolbe in Russian-occupied Poland on January 8, 1894, he was the son of poor, devout, Third Order Franciscan parents.
At the age of eight, after a scolding from his mother in which she asked him, "Raymond, what will ever become of you?", he became worried over this very question.
At the family's home shrine to the Blessed Virgin, he asked her, "Mother of God, what will ever become of me?" He then ran to his parish Church, where he asked the Blessed Mother again, "What will become of me?"
To his amazement the Virgin Mary appeared to him, smiling with great love, and held out to him two crowns, one white for Purity, and one red for Martyrdom. She asked him, "Which will you choose?"
In his impetuous love, he answered, "I choose both!" The Virgin smilled and left him, having granted his wish.
He and his brother Francis entered the Franciscan seminary in 1907, and he was ordained in 1919 in Rome, and then sent back to Poland.
Having been inspired by the story of the conversion to Catholicism of the rabid anti-Catholic Alphonse Ratisbonne, then-Friar Maximilian was given the grace of his idea to start a world-wide movement of conversion, the Militia of the Immaculata.
Ratisbonne had been dared by a friend to wear a Miraculous Medal, and daily pray the Memorarae. The Blessed Virgin appeared to him in a blinding flash, Ratisbonne was converted on the spot, and eventually became a priest.
Friar Maximilian believed that the Miraculous Medal, worn by as many as possible, could be the bullet used against Satan, the lord of the age, to help Our Lady crush the serpent's head and convert the world.
He began spreading his Militia of the Immaculata movement of Marian consecration
(whose members are also called MIs), which he founded on October 16, 1917, just 4 days after the final apparition at Fatima.
In 1927, he established an evangelization center near Warsaw called Niepokalanow, the "City of the Immaculata." By 1939,
the City had expanded from eighteen friars to an incredible 650, making it the largest Catholic religious house in the world.
To better "win the world for the Immaculata," the friars utilized the most modern printing and administrative techniques of the times.
This enabled them to publish countless catechetical and devotional tracts, a daily newspaper with an eventual circulation of 230,000
and a monthly magazine with a circulation of over one million. Maximilian started a shortwave radio station and planned to build a motion picture studio
--he was a true "apostle of the mass media." He established a City of the Immaculata in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1930, which survived (some say miraculously by the intervention of the Virgin) the atom bomb, and still stands today.
In 1941, the Nazis imprisoned Father Maximilian in the Auschwitz death camp in part of the attempt to crush the Catholic Church, and because of the hiding of thousands of Jews at the friary in Poland.
Ironically, in stark contrast to the gift of purity given to him by the Blessed virgin, he was forced to wear a pink triangle patch, a sign of homosexuality, the ostensible and deliberately cruel false reason for his imprisonment by the Nazis.
In retribution for a prisoner escape, the commandant of the concentration camp sentenced ten more prisoners to die.
One man, arbitrarily condemned, cried out in anguish- "My wife! My children!" Fr. Kolbe respectfully removed his cap and stepped up to the commandant. There he offered up his life, to die in the stead of the other prisoner.
A stunned silence fell over the camp. Even the commandant was momentarily silent; to the astonishment of all, he accepted Fr. Kolbe's offer.
Saint Maximilian was thrown dowm the steps of an underground bunker, along with nine other men, and left to starve.
For two weeks prayers, song and exhortation was heard to come from the bunker...in a continuing mirror of Calvary, one of the German guards was heard to say that this man, Fr. Kolbe, was unlike any other he had seen. Father encouraged,
imparted hope and consolation and at the end of two weeks was among the last alive. On August 14, 1941, needing the bunker for further torture, his impatient captors ended his life, death noted at 12:30 PM, with a fatal injection of carbolic acid.
His body was unceremoniously incinerated along with thousands of others who died at the hands of evil.
The man for whom Father Kolbe died, Franciszek Gajowniczek, lived to the age of 95, living to spread the word about Saint Maximilian. Every year after the war on August 14 he visited the bunker at Auschwitz, and at the end of his life was
still travelling to speak about the love shown to him so long ago.
Pope John Paul II canonized Maximilian as a "Martyr of Charity" in 1981. Saint Maximilian Kolbe is considered a patron of journalists, families, prisoners, the pro-life movement and the chemically addicted.
True joy of love
THE CHAPLET OF SAINT MAXIMILLIAN KOLBE
The Chaplet of St. Maximillian Kolbe consists of 14 beads
to celebrate his martyr's death on the 14th of August. He considered the Miraculous Medal to be the
"bullet" against the enemy of our souls, and considered wearing it to be mandatory in prayer
for the conversion of souls. Click on the picture to see more.
Saint Max added to the Miraculous Medal Prayer the following:
"O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for those who have recourse to thee, and those who have no recourse,
especially the enemies of the Church, and those whom we recommend to thee."
On each of the 14 beads repeat this prayer, adding "St. Maximillian, Pray for Us,"
and adding the intention for which you pray.
On the pendant bead above the Crucifix, pray the Memorarae:
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence,
I fly unto Thee, O virgin of virgins, my Mother. To Thee I come, before Thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate! Despise not my petitions, but in Thy mercy, hear and answer us.
Amen.
A RULE OF LIFE
for Those Consecrated to the Immaculate Virgin,
by Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe
It is my duty to be a saint and a great saint.
For the glory of God, I must save myself and all souls, present and future, through the Immaculate.
Before anything else flee not only from mortal but also from deliberate venial sin.
Do not permit: a. that evil remain without reparation and destruction; or b. that good be without fruit or increase.
Let your rule be obedience-the will of God through the Immaculate-I am nothing but an instrument.
Think of what you are doing. Do not be concerned about anything else, whether bad or good.
Preserve order, and order will preserve you.
Peaceful and benevolent action.
Preparation - Action - Conclusion.
Remember that you belong exclusively, unconditionally, absolutely, irrevocably to the Immaculate: Whoever you are, whatever you have or can, whatever you do (thoughts, words, action) and endure (pleasant, unpleasant, indifferent things) belong to the Immaculate. Consequently, may she dispose of them according to Her will (and not yours). In the same way it belongs to Her all your intentions; therefore, may she transform them, add others, take them away, as She likes (in fact, She does not offend justice).
You are an instrument in Her hand, therefore do only what She wants; accept everything like a child to his own mother, trust Her in everything.Take an interest about Her, Her veneration, Her things and let Her take care of you and your loved ones. Recognize that everything you have comes from Her and nothing from you. All the fruits of your activities depend on the union with Her, in the same way as She is an instrument of the divine mercy.
O Immaculate, my life (every moment of it), my death (where, when and how) and my eternity belongs totally to you. Of everything You do whatever You like.
NOVENA PRAYER TO SAINT MAXIMILIAN KOLBE
O Lord Jesus Christ, who said, "Greater love than this no man has, that a man lay down his life for his friends," through the intercession of Saint Maximilian Kolbe whose life illustrated such love, we beseech you to grant us our petitions ... (here mention your requests).
Through the Militia Immaculata movement, which Maximilian founded, he spread a fervent devotion to Our Lady throughout the world. He gave up his life for a total stranger and loved his persecutors, giving us an example of unselfish love for all men - a love that was inspired by true devotion to Mary.
Grant, O Lord Jesus, that we too may give ourselves entirely without reserve to the love and service of our Heavenly Queen in order to better love and serve our fellow man in imitation of your humble servant, Saint Maximilian. Amen.
Three Hail Marys and one Glory be.
