St. Maximilian Kolbe Relic 2016 Pilgrimage
In commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Conventual Franciscan
Friar, St. Maximilian Kolbe, Our Lady of the Angels Province has scheduled a pilgrimage of a
relic throughout our province U.S. and Canadian territory. The reliquary pictured here is one of
four that was created in 1971 (11 years prior to his canonization – thus marked as B. Max. Kolbe
as he was then only elevated to blessed) to hold a portion of his beard that in 1938 was shaved
after Friar Maximilian received permission from his Minister Provincial. It contains many
symbols from the life of St. Maximilian: the base is in the shape of his birthplace of Poland,
covered in the “thorns” of occupation by the Third Reich. Out of those thorns, however, burst
forth a lily of purity and a tulip of martyrdom – symbols of love triumphing over hate. The strands
of our saint’s beard are hosed in a class case entwined with our Franciscan knotted cord
representing his vocation to our Order and our vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.
St. Maximilian first grew out his long beard to enhance his missionary work in Japan
where the beard helped to earn the respect of the people he served. Upon his return to Poland,
under the National Socialism, the beard instead provoked not only his own persecution but the persecution of his fellow
friars, “Beards provoke the enemy who rapidly is approaching our friary. Our Franciscan
habits also will provoke him. I can part with my beard. I can’t sacrifice my habit.” After
having shaved Maximilian’s beard, one of the friars placed it in a pouch. Strands of the beard
still are preserved in the Niepokalanow archives. (Claude R. Foster, Mary’s Knight,
Marytown Press 2013, p. 586) From some of those strands, four identical reliquaries were
created, one of which will be venerated during this pilgrimage. In 1941, St. Maximilian
demonstrated heroic charity by giving his life in place of fellow prisoner, Franciszek
Gajowniczek; a husband and father who was one of ten men chosen to suffer death by
starvation after being subjected to hours of standing in the hot summer sun, in the Auschwitz
(Poland) concentration camp during World War II as consequence for one prisoner’s
successful escape. Franciszek’s a cry of despair,” What will become of my family?” moved
Saint Maximilian to step forward and ask to be taken instead. Canonized October 10, 1982,
St. Maximilian Kolbe was declared the “Patron Saint of our difficult century,” and a Martyr
of Charity, by Pope Saint John Paul II.
PILGRIMAGE OF THE RELIC OF ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE
2016 Itinerary (Updates Will Occur Upon Change)
MASSACHUSETTS
Our Lady of the Cross Parish, Holyoke ~ June 17-19
St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Chicopee ~ June 21-23
Basilica of St. Stanislaus, Bishop & Martyr, Chicopee ~ June 24-26
CONNECTICUT
Felician Franciscan Sisters (Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice), Enfield ~ June 28-30
St. Paul Catholic Church, Kensington and St. John Catholic Church, Cromwell ~ July 1-7
Return to MASSACHUSETTS
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, New Bedford ~ July 8-10
Second of three sons born to a poor but pious Catholic family in Russian occupied Poland. His parents, both Franciscan
lay tertiaries, worked at home as weavers. His father, Julius, later ran a religious book store, then enlisted in the army of
Pilsudski, fought for Polish independence from Russia, and was hanged by the Russians as a traitor in 1914. His mother,
Marianne Dabrowska, later became a Benedictine nun. His brother Alphonse became a priest. Raymond was known as a
mischievous child, sometimes considered wild, and a trial to his parents. However, in 1906 at Pabianice, at age twelve and
around the time of his first Communion, he received a vision of the Virgin Mary that changed his life.
I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other
red. 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. – Saint Maximilian
He entered the Franciscan junior seminary in Lwow, Poland in 1907 where he excelled in mathematics and physics. For a while
he wanted to abandon the priesthood for the military, but eventually relented to the call to religious life, and on 4 September
1910 he became a novice in the Conventual Franciscan Order at age 16. He took the name Maximilian, made his first vows on 5
September 1911, his final vows on 1 November 1914.
Studied philosophy at the Jesuit Gregorian College in Rome from 1912 to 1915, and theology at the Franciscan
Collegio Serafico in Rome from 1915 to 1919. On 16 October 1917, while still in seminary, he and six friends founded the
Immaculata Movement (Militia Immaculatae, Crusade of Mary Immaculate) devoted to the conversion of sinners, opposition to
freemasonry (which was extremely anti–Catholic at the time), spread of the Miraculous Medal (which they wore as their habit),
and devotion to Our Lady and the path to Christ. Stricken with tuberculosis which nearly killed him, and left him in frail in
health the rest of his life. Ordained on 28 April 1918 in Rome at age 24. Received his Doctor of Theology on 22 July 1922; his
insights into Marian theology echo today through their influence on Vatican II.
Maximilian returned to Poland on 29 July 1919 to teach history in the Krakow seminary. He had to take a medical
leave from 10 August 1920 to 28 April 1921 to be treated for tuberculosis at the hospital at Zakpane in the Tatra Mountains. In
January 1922 he began publication of the magazine Knights of the Immaculate to fight religious apathy; by 1927 the magazine
had a press run of 70,000 issues. He was forced to take another medical leave from 18 September 1926 to 13 April 1927, but the
work continued. The friaries from which he had worked were not large enough for his work, and in 1927 Polish Prince Jan
Drucko-Lubecki gave him land at Teresin near Warsaw. There he founded a new monastery of Niepokalanow, the City of the
Immaculate which was consecrated on 8 December 1927. At its peak the Knights of the Immaculate had a press run of 750,000
copies a month. A junior seminary was started on the grounds in 1929. In 1935 the house began printing a daily Catholic
newspaper, The Little Daily with a press run of 137,000 on work days, 225,000 on Sundays and holy days.
Not content with his work in Poland, Maximilian and four brothers left for Japan in 1930. Within a month of their
arrival, penniless and knowing no Japanese, Maximilian was printing a Japanese version of the Knight; the magazine, Seibo no
Kishi grew to a circulation of 65,000 by 1936. In 1931 he founded a monastery in Nagasaki, Japan comparable to
Niepokalanow. It survived the war, including the nuclear bombing, and serves today as a center of Franciscan work in Japan.
In mid-1932 Max left Japan for Malabar, India where he founded a third Niepokalanow house. However, due to a lack
of manpower, it did not survive.Poor health forced him to curtail his missionary work and return to Poland in 1936. On 8
December 1938 the monastery started its own radio station. By 1939 the monastery housed a religious community of nearly 800
men, the largest in the world in its day, and was completely self-sufficient including medical facilities and a fire brigade staffed
by the religious brothers.
Arrested with several of his brothers on 19 September 1939 following the Nazi invasion of Poland. Others at the
monastery were briefly exiled, but the prisoners were released on 8 December 1939, and the men returned to their work. Back at
Niepokalanow he continued his priestly ministry, The brothers housed 3,000 Polish refugees, two-thirds of whom were Jewish,
and continued their publication work, including materials considered anti-Nazi. For this work the presses were shut down, the
congregation suppressed, the brothers dispersed, and Maximilian was imprisoned in Pawiak prison, Warsaw, Poland on 17
February 1941.
On 28 May 1941 he was transferred to Auschwitz and branded as prisoner 16670. He was assigned to a special work
group staffed by priests and supervised by especially vicious and abusive guards. His calm dedication to the faith brought him
the worst jobs available, and more beatings than anyone else. At one point he was beaten, lashed, and left for dead. The
prisoners managed to smuggle him into the camp hospital where he spent his recovery time hearing confessions. When he
returned to the camp, Maximilian ministered to other prisoners, including conducting Mass and delivering communion using
smuggled bread and wine.
In July 1941 there was an escape from the camp. Camp protocol,
designed to make the prisoners guard each other, required that ten men be
slaughtered in retribution for each escaped prisoner. Francis Gajowniczek, a
married man with young children was chosen to die for the escape. Maximilian
volunteered to take his place, and died as he had always wished – in service.
Born: 7 January 1894 at Zdunska Wola, Poland as Raymond Kolbe
Died: 14 August 1941 by lethal carbonic acid injection after three weeks of starvation
and dehydration at the Auschwitz, Poland death camp - body burned in the ovens and
ashes scattered - some relics have been preserved and distributed by the friars at
Niepokalanów, Poland.
Venerable: 30 January 1969 by Pope Paul VI
Beatified: 17 October 1971 by Pope Paul VI. His beatification miracles include the
July 1948 cure of intestinal tuberculosis of Angela Testoni, and August 1950 cure of
calcification of the arteries/sclerosis of Francis Ranier
Canonized: 10 October 1982 by Pope John Paul II. He was declared a martyr of
charity.
Patronage: against drug addiction; drug addicts; families; imprisoned people;
journalists; political prisoners; prisoners; pro-life movement