August 14—St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr

August 14—St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr

St. Maximilian Kolbe was a martyr in the new age of martyrs, the 20^th century.  But as with all martyrs, St. Maximilian showed love, God’s love, in his martyrdom.  Imprisoned at Auschwitz, Fr. Kolbe volunteered to take the place of another prisoner chosen to be starved to death in retribution for an escape.  After two weeks with no food or water St. Maximilian was still alive when the other nine chosen to be killed with him had died.  He then was given an injection of carbolic acid, whereupon he entered into heavenly glory.

Some may say that the age of martyrs was over sixteen hundred years ago when the Romans killed men and women who stood up for their faith.  Actually, the 20^th century is THE age of the martyrs.  Blessed Pope John Paul II canonized or beatified 266 martyrs of that century.  The situations varied:  the Spanish Civil War, Communist persecution, the Mexican Revolution, Nazi occupation.  But each man, woman, or child died due to hatred of the faith or hatred of the Church.  Each also died forgiving those who persecuted them.

Blessed Pope John Paul II declared in Tertio Millennio Adveniente (On the Preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000) that, “At the end of the second millennium, the Church has once again become a Church of martyrs. The persecutions of believers —priests, Religious and laity—has caused a great sowing of martyrdom in different parts of the world. The witness to Christ borne even to the shedding of blood has become a common inheritance of Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans and Protestants, as Pope Paul VI pointed out in his Homily for the Canonization of the Ugandan Martyrs” (37).

Martyrs are honored as witnesses to Christ, as those who love one another as Christ loved us, with their very lives.