Writings of St. Maximilian Kolbe
Read through his Letters and ConferencesThe 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...
The Immaculate: Mediatrix of Divine Love
Our Heavenly Father is the first principle and ultimate end of all. Human language and the intelligence of man, in an altogether inadequate fashion, endeavor to think and to talk of God by borrowing concepts from the environment that surrounds them. These concepts are...
“A Global Form of Catholic Life”
The purpose of creation, the purpose of man is the love of God, the Creator and the Father; an ever greater love, divinization, return to God from whom he came, union with God, a fruitful love. So that the love toward the Father could become even more perfect,...
The Immaculate: Mother and Teacher
When you start to read something on the Immaculate, do not forget that at that moment you are coming into contact with a living being, who loves you, who is pure, without any stain. Also, remember that the words you see are unable to express who she is, because they...
“Deign to Tell Me Who You Are”
O Immaculate, Queen of Heaven and earth, I know I am unworthy to approach you, to fall on my knees before you with my face to the ground, but because I love you so much, I dare beg you to be good enough to deign to tell me who you are. For I wish to know you more and...
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...
St. Maximilian’s Tactics for Total Victory
In 1924, St. Maximilian Kolbe wrote an article entitled “Our Tactics” for his magazine. His purpose was to outline and explain the essential means necessary to succeed in the spiritual life. His premise was that even though in the spiritual life we are not engaged in...
"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...
"All good things came to me along with Her"
Letter from St. Maximilian Kolbe to Br. Julius Maria Mugenzai no Sono, 2/4/1935 Dear Brother Julius, May the Immaculate reward you for your wishing me graces, and assimilation to Her; to breathe her, and to live eternally according to her spirit; and of much toil and...
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...
"On Deepening our Devotion to the Immaculate"
Conference of St. Maximilian Kolbe: September 26, 1937 1. Sometimes we think to ourselves, or it might be that it is someone else who suggests such a thought, that here our devotion to Our Lady is too much. There are some who have said that this matter needs to be...
Who Are You, O Immaculate Conception?
“Who are you, O Immaculate Conception?” asks St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe. The Knight of the Immaculata goes on: Not God, for God has no beginning. Not Adam, made from the dust of the earth. Not Eve, drawn from Adam's body. Nor is she the Incarnate Word who already...
Marian-Franciscan Charism
