The Saint of Auschwitz
Maximilian Kolbe
Maximilian Kolbe died on this date, August 14, in 1941, at the German death camp of Auschwitz. The Polish priest, a Conventional Franciscan, prisoner number 16670, volunteered to die in place of Franciszek Gajowniczek.
When Gajowniczek, 41, learned he was facing death at the hands of his captors, he cried out “My wife! My children!” Kolbe, 47, immediately stepped forward, argued that he was a Catholic priest and older than Gajowniczek, and convinced the guards to allow him to replace the family man.
Gajowniczek survived and lived to age 93.
Kolbe was canonized a saint and martyr by Pope John Paul II in 1982. Gajowniczek attended the canonization ceremony in Rome.
A short biographical sketch of Maximilian’s life can be found here.
In 1984, Gajowniczek, then 83, attended the dedication of first Shrine to Saint Maximilian Kolbe built in the United States. He is pictured below at the shrine in Footedale, near New Salem, Pennsylvania, 40 minutes south of Pittsburgh.
I visited the shrine a number of times, and two years ago produced a three-minute video of its history. It can be found on YouTube here.