Maximilian Kolbe (1894–1941) was a Polish Conventual Franciscan priest with a deep devotion to Mary, founding the Militia Immaculatae movement and the friary of Niepokalanów. Arrested by the Nazis and imprisoned at Auschwitz, he volunteered to take the place of a married father of a family, Franciszek Gajowniczek, who had been condemned to death. After two weeks in a starvation bunker he was killed by lethal injection on August 14, 1941, and was canonized in 1982 as a martyr of charity.
Saint Maximilian shows that love is stronger than hatred, even in the darkest place on earth. He gave his life quietly, one day at a time, so that another father could go home to his children. His example teaches us that no suffering is wasted when it is offered in love, and that a single act of self-giving can shine for generations.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe, who laid down your life so another could live, help us to love generously and without fear, and hold close all children and families who suffer. Amen.