By August 10, 1941, feast of the Spanish-born martyr Lawrence, one of the greatest glories of the Church of Rome, Father Maximilian Kolbe had already been placed in his isolated cell, waiting for the slow death planned by his captors. As Saint Lawrence so many centuries earlier, that was his cross - he would not be running away from it.
What gave Kolbe so much strength? A well cultivated interior life, under the protection of the Immaculata, the same loving face that Christ saw from the Cross. As Lawrence, Kolbe could proclaim confidently in his trials, "My night has no darkness, but all things break forth in light."
Our newest contributor, Francesca Romana, sent us the following text for the 70th anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint M. Kolbe.
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The Contemplative Life in the Martyr of Auschwitz
During his stay in Rome, St. Maximilian witnessed the raging hatred of the enemies of God and of the Church. Inspired by Divine Grace and with unlimited confidence in the Holy Virgin, he founded the Militia of the Immaculate, conceived as an army of souls occupied in the fight for one’s own sanctification and that of others and for the conversion of the enemies of the Church, especially the Freemasons.
On September 5, 1911, Fra Maximilian made his simple profession and was sent to the Franciscan seminary in Cracow to continue his high school studies.
He was then sent, after only one year of study, to the International College in Rome, to obtain a degree in philosophy and theology. Here he edified everyone in the College with his exceptional kindness bound to a rare intelligence. It suffices to say that the Rector of the College, Fr. Stefano Ignudi, defined him as the “Holy youth.” One of his companions stated: “He was truly holy in the exact meaning of the word.” This same companion continues: “He was humble and meek in everything and with everyone…. He was most observant of the Rule. At the first sign of the Superior or of the monastic bell, he would immediately become silent, interrupting the word that he was pronouncing… As for his devotion, love for the Blessed Sacrament touched the deepest recessed of his heart. He enrolled himself for perpetual Adoration…He visited the Blessed Sacrament every hour….His devotion to Our Lady was sincere and filial. During the daily walk he exhorted me to recite the Rosary and other prayers with him, especially the Memorare and Sub tuum praesidium…. He often did the same during the free time, when we met each other each other in the courtyard of the College. He always gave Our Lady the title of my Mama….Never in my life have I met a person who loved Our Lady more than Fr. Maximilian. He was a true son of Mary Most Holy.”
While in Rome, the young Saint was always ill. He had continuous migraines during the long years of philosophical and theological study. In 1914, because of his anaemic-lymphatic temperament he became gravelly ill with gangrene on his left thumb. The doctor decided that an urgent amputation was necessary which, without an Apostolic dispensation would have seriously compromised his priestly ordination. But it was cured by pouring some water from Lourdes on the wound.
At his solemn Profession in Rome, in 1914, he added the name “Mary” to that of Maximilian. During his stay in the Eternal City, he witnessed the evil and sacrilegious processions organized by the Freemasons, against the Pope, through the streets of Rome and in St. Peter’s Square. The black standards carried the image of St. Michael the Archangel under Lucifer’s feet, with the writing: “Satan will reign in the Vatican.” The sad spectacle caused Fra Maximilian’s heart to break; thus he wrote: “Is it possible that our enemies must work so much as to have prevalence and that we remain idle? Do we not have more powerful weapons: the protection of Heaven and of the Immaculate Virgin? She Who is “without stain,” victorious and who weakens all heresies, will not abandon Her battlefield to the enemy who is lifting his head: If She finds faithful servants, docile to her commands, She will achieve new victories, greater than one could ever imagine.”
On another occasion, after listening to the meditation given by the Rector on the conversion of Alphonsus Ratisbonne, a Jewish man, through the Miraculous Medal and the apparition of the Blessed Virgin in the church of Sant’Andrea delle Fratte, Fra Maximilian confided to one of his confreres: “Now we must really pray to Our Lady to crush the devil and all heresies, especially the Freemasons….” Thus was the Militia of the Immaculate born. With most intense and sacrificial prayer, decided upon a project to fight against the enemies of the Church, under the command of the universal Queen, of the invincible Warrior: the Immaculate Virgin.His close friend, Fr. Pal, gives this testimony: “Fr. Maximilian’s hope in Our Lord was unshakeable and infinite since it was strengthened by a great trust; because just as one can easily arrive through Mariam ad Jesum, in the same way, one may obtain everything from Jesus per Mariam. From the beginning, he had founded the Militia Immaculatae on the same hope with which he would often greet Our Lady: “cunctas haereses interemisti in universo mundo.””
The Militia of the Immaculate was intended to be an army of souls consecrated to the Immaculate as Her “property” and as “truly docile instruments,” intent in the battle for one’s own sanctification and for the conversion of the enemies of the Church, in particular for the Freemasons, infernal enemies of Christ and the Church. The Militia was open to all: priests, religious, laity, old and young. St. Maximilian would propose to these hearts the greatest heights of love for the Immaculate urging one on to “transformation in Her.”
[Source: DE VITA CONTEMPLATIVA July 2010 - Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate.]
