A martyr of love

We celebrate the feast of the Franciscan priest and Polish martyr, St. Maximilian Kolbe, founder of Militia Immaculatae. He was 47-year-old when volunteered to die in place of a stranger, Franciszek who was a husband and a father of two sons in 1941. St. Kolbe was arrested in February 1941 on charges of aiding Jews and the Polish underground and was imprisoned in Warsaw. He was deported to the death camp of Auschwitz, Poland. He was forced to the most humiliating jobs, such as carrying dead bodies to the crematorium. The priest and the others were locked up in the "starvation bunker" without food and water for two weeks. During that time, he led the prisoners in prayer and he remained the only survivor. To end his life, the authorities decided to use a lethal injection of carbolic acid. Before dying, he pronounced the two words, “Ave Maria” and was canonized by St John Paul II on October 10, 1982 who stated this about him: “Death suffered for love, in place of the brother is a heroic act of man, through which, together with the new Saint, we glorify God.”

“Lord, have mercy on your people, Lord, forgive us for so much cruelty”.

Fr. Georges Roger BIDZOGO SAC