Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe OFM Conv. (Raymund Kolbe), was a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar, who volunteered to die in place of a stranger in Auschwitz, the Nazi German death camp, as Prisoner #16670.
In Jesus’ day, people had to pay “tribute” — taxes — to their Roman conqueror, which was a way of signifying their submission to his power. When Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) was canonized in 1982, a special person was on hand to pay tribute to his greatness. Yes, John Paul II, a fellow Pole, was there to do the canonizing, but equally special, so was Francis Gajowniczek, the Auschwitz inmate Kolbe died for.
Francis Gajowniczek (LEFT), and John Paul II, a fellow Pole, at Maxmilian Kolbe’s canonizing. Before he became Pope, Polish Cardinal Wyszynski said of Kolbe, that, “Whereas people trust in material resources like tanks, planes, and armies, Kolbe shows that only one thing is necessary to gain peace and unity for the world, the practice of love.”
As they slaved away in the Nazi death camp, a prisoner escaped. Infuriated guards randomly chose 10 men to die in retaliation. When Gajowniczek cried out that he had a wife and children, Father Kolbe stepped forward to take his place. Kolbe paid tribute to Jesus. What truths do we submit to daily?
Francis Gajowniczek, Auschwitz prisoner photo
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