Articles on St. Maximilian Kolbe

Articles on his life and spirituality

The Era of the Immaculate

For St. Maximilian, the Immaculate Conception is a mystery not simply to be believed, but also lived by all the faithful. He strove, therefore, at all times and in every way to advance the cause of the Immaculate, introducing her into all hearts, “so that she may...

Our Lady of All Nations

This marian apparition, Our Lady of All Nations, has been approved by the local bishop. Its focus is the Coredemption of Our Lady so central to St Maximilian's spirituality.

Silence and Recollection

Conference 195 by St. Maximilian Kolbe given to the solemnly professed friars. Niepokalanów, Thursday, November 24, 1938. Notes taken by br. Caesarius Koperski Introduction Ave Maria! “The Spirit breathes when He wills,” St. Maximilian reminds us in the following...

Transubstantiation into the Immaculate

What does it means to live in unlimited consecration to the Virgin Mary? Going beyond merely living in imitation of her, it means being transformed into her likeness. St. Maximilian employs the term “transubstantiation” to describe the effect of this transformation....

St. Maximilian and the Two Crowns of Glory

In the now-famous vision of his youth, St. Maximilian was offered two crowns by Our Lady: the white crown of a life of heroic virtue, and the red crown of martyrdom. He was rewarded with these two crowns for a life totally spent for the Immaculate. By divine...

St . Maximilian Kolbe and the Second Page

If the focus of the “First Page” of salvation history—to borrow the terminology of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe—culminated in the solemn definition of the truth of the Immaculate Conception, the “Second Page” is none other than an incorporation of this truth into the lives...

"I am a Catholic Priest"

“I am a Catholic priest.” With this statement, we have in just a few words the “ID card” of St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan priest martyred at Auschwitz August 14, 1941, seventy years ago. When the fierce Lagerführer Karl Fritzsch, in reprisal for the escape...

Kolbe Live – “Difficult Times”

Bl. John Paul II called St. Maximilian M. Kolbe “patron of our troubled times.”  Today’s world indeed has need of such a Saint so totally the possession of Mary: all hers.  Let us imagine for a moment that we are with St. Maximilian and the brothers of Niepokalanów,...

"Only Love Creates"

In the concentration and death camp of Auschwitz, he voluntarily immolated himself, taking the place of a father who had been condemned to die of starvation in the terrible “death bunker.” The death of St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe as a martyr of charity was a death of...

St. Maximilian's “Secret” to Holiness

Right thinking on matters of the Faith—orthodoxy— leads us to right practice—orthopraxis—and through right practice taking form in solidly Catholic spirituality and moral action, we learn to walk in the perfection of Christian virtue and to become saints.[1] St....

The Essence of Marian Devotion

Letter of St. Maximilian Kolbe to Bro. Mateusz Spolitakiewicz, October 10, 1935 Introduction In the following letter, St. Maximilian, writing from the City of the Immaculate in Japan, answers a series of spiritual questions sent to him by br. Mateusz Spolitakiewicz...

Saints and Sanctity: Part 2

As we explained in the previous article, St. Maximilian compared and contrasted great men of the world with the saints of God. While both groups of men were “high achievers,” their motives and their attitudes toward adversity were much different. Worldly glory fades...

Saints and Sanctity: Part 1

St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe wrote about the saints and sanctity quite often. His first rule of life was “I must become a saint, and a great saint.” And, of course he did become a great saint. To read now what his aspiring and growing saint had to say about holiness is...

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