St Maximilian Kolbe

St. Maximilian was named Raymond when he was born and took the name Maximilian when he joined the Franciscan order when he was a teenager. Maximilian loved our Mother Mary and when he became a priest he added Mary to his name, to show his devotion to her. He spent his whole life as a priest working to make Mary known and loved, so that people would get to know her Son Jesus. He started a group called the Militia of Mary Immaculata so that people could learn about Mary and he started a magazine called “The Knight of the Immaculata” so that people could read about Mary. He built a big centre in Poland called the City of the Immaculate where 800 Franciscans came to live and work. He built two more of these cities in Japan and India. Then in 1938 the rulers of Germany, the Nazis, invaded Poland and the City of the Immaculate. The Nazis did not like anyone that loved God. They put Maximilian in a work prison (just like St. Edith and Blessed Otto) and treated him very badly. Three months after Maximilian arrived there someone escaped from the prison, which made the guards very angry. In order to punish the prisoners they chose 10 prisoners who would have no food or water because of the person who escaped. One of the men that the guards picked had a wife and children and did not want to die, so Maximilian asked if he could take his place and the guard said yes. Maximilian died with the 9 other prisoners and while they sat in prison with no food or water for days, Maximilian prayed with them, comforted them and helped each of them die in peace with Jesus. Maximilian helped them all go to Heaven and he was the last one to die and go to Heaven to be with Jesus.