SAINT OF THE DAY S MAXIMILAN KOLBE (1894-1941) - 14th Aug

 Maximilian was born in Poland and in his childhood, Our Mother appeared to him in a dream holding a white crown and a red crown. 

    He later related, “She asked if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. 

    I said that I would accept them both.” At the age of 16, he entered the Franciscan Order. He was sent to study in Rome where he was ordained a priest in 1918. 

    Fr. Maximilian returned to Poland in 1919 and began spreading the Immaculate movement of Marian consecration. In 1927, he established an evangelization center near Warsaw and the 

    Friars utilized the most modern printing and a monthly magazine with a circulation of over one million. Maximilian started a radio station and he was a 

    true “Apostle of the Mass Media.” Maximilian was a ground-breaking theologian. His insights into the Immaculate Conception anticipated the Marian theology of the Second Vatican 

    Council and further developed the Church’s understanding of Mary as “Mediatrix” of all the graces of the Trinity, and as “Advocate” for God’s people. 

    In 1941, the Nazis imprisoned Father Maximilian in the Auschwitz death camp. There he offered his life for another prisoner and was condemned to slow death in a starvation bunker. 

    On August 14, 1941, his impatient captors ended his life with a fatal injection. Pope John Paul II canonized Maximilian as a “Martyr of Charity” 

    and “Patron Saint of our difficult century” in 1982. St. Maximilian Kolbe is the patron of journalists, families, prisoners and the pro-life movement. 

    But what happened to Franciszek Gajowniczek - the man Father Kolbe saved? He died on March 13, 1995, at Brzeg in Poland, 95 years old - and 53 years after Kolbe had saved him. 

    But he was never to forget the ragged monk. After his release from Auschwitz, Gajowniczek made his way back to his hometown, with the dream of seeing his family again. 

    He found his wife but his two sons had been killed during the war. Every year on August 14 he went back to Auschwitz. He spent the next five decades paying homage to Father Kolbe, 

    honouring the man who died on his behalf.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

09 FEB - OUR MOTHER OF THE BELLS (FRANCE)

Image
 The town of Saintes, France was originally a thriving settlement in ancient Gaul located along the Charente River. The town takes its name, Saintes,      due to Mary Salome and Mary Jacob were forced to flee the Holy Land about the year 45 AD. They left taking a boat with no sail and were miraculously transported across      the Mediterranean Sea, making land near the place which became known as Saintes Maries de la Mer and considered a holy place.      This tradition was carried on by the Celts and then the Romans. It is recorded, on the octave day of the Purification, the bells in the Cathedral of Saintes,      rang out most sweetly of themselves. The sacristans, having run to the Church, saw what appeared to be several unknown men holding lighted candles and melodiously      chanting hymns in honor of the Blessed Virgin, Our Mother of the Bells, who was venerated in a Chapel of this Church. Approaching softly,      the men who had run to the Church to give them one in proof of the
Read more

09 FEB - SAINT OF THE DAY [S MIGUEL FEBRES CORDERO MUNOZ (1854-1910)]

Image
 Miguel was born to a prominent family in Ecuador with an unknown disability, he was unable to stand until age five when he received a vision of Our Mother.      At age 8, he was miraculously protected from being mauled by a wild bull. He enrolled in a school run by the Christian Brothers,      an Order which had only recently come to Ecuador and joined the Brothers at age 13. He became a school teacher at Quito, a position he held for 32 years.      A gentle, dedicated, and enthusiastic teacher.      Wrote his own textbooks and some were adopted by the government, and used throughout the country.      He was elected to the Ecuadoran Academy of Letters in 1892, and to the Academies of Spain, France, and Venezuela.      He was sent to Europe in 1905 to translate texts from French to Spanish for use by the Order; worked primarily in Belgium. His health began to fail and he was transferred to the school near Barcelona, Spain.      In addition to being a religious role model, Miguel is con
Read more

23rd May - OUR MOTHER OF MIRACLES OF BRESCIA (ITALY)

Image
 This north Italian shrine in Lombardy originated with a painting of the Blessed Virgin on the outside of a house. During an epidemic of plague that devastated Brescia in 1478,      it became the occasion of miracles of healing. The symptoms of the plague began with a severe headache, and then the lymph glands would become swollen.      The victim’s body would literally decay before they would suddenly die. The plague began in March of the year and continued until July the next year.      200 people died per day in the town, while the population of the city dropped from just under 40,000 to somewhat less than 4,000 during that perilous time.      The Church of Our Mother of Miracles in Brescia was built to honor the image of the Blessed Virgin before which so many people were miraculously healed.      Construction began in 1488 in thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin for those who survived, but work was not completed until 1500.      The image that was once seen on a house near the Churc
Read more

14 FEB - OUR MOTHER OF BOURBOURG (BELGIUM)

Image
 During the middle ages, the site of the Chapel was occupied by lepers and one of them sculpted a statue of the Blessed Mother with the Infant in her arms.      The leper was healed at once and several miracles had been attributed to the image. The king of France and all the lords of his army, with their attendants,      entered Bourbourg. The Bretons began to plunder the Church. A barbarian stood upon an altar with the intent of forcing out a precious stone that was in the      crown of an image of Our Mother. As he reached to steal the stone, the image suddenly turned about, and the robber in his fright fell from the altar and was instantly struck      dead. Another aggressor came with a similar intent of robbing the image; but all the bells began a peal without any one touching them, for no one could have rung them,      the bell-ropes being drawn up and fastened. On account of these miracles, the Church was visited by large crowds. St. Peter Canisius, SJ in 1580 spent his life prea
Read more

19 FEB - TODAY IN SJ HISTORY

Image
 The election of Fr. Claudio Acquaviva, SJ (1543-1615) as the 5th General in the 4th General Congregation.      He was only 37 years of age and a Jesuit for only l4 years. He was General under 8 Popes. He had been a fellow Novice with St. Stanislaus Koska.      Acquaviva was born in Atri, Abruzzo, from a noble family illustrious at the court of Naples for its patronage of humanist culture.      He had heard of the Society of Jesus through his friendship with Fr. Francis Borgia and Fr. Juan de Polanco. He was particularly impressed by the works of the      Early Companions during the Plague in 1566 and decided to join the Order at the age of 24. With the blessing of Pope Pius V he asked the then Superior General,      Fr. Francis Borgia, to be admitted to the novitiate. After completing his studies, he was very soon given positions of important responsibility,      his administrative gifts marking him out for the highest posts. He soon became the Provincial Superior of Naples and then o
Read more