Like pro-lifers today, St. Maximilian Kolbe fought the culture of death. Culture of Life Studies.com His heroism went echoing through the concentration camp of Auschwitz. This fragile, tubercular priest, (number 16670) by all accounts, went out of his way to be kind to all. Receiving only starvation rations, he gave his food away to others. He counseled fellow
He was a true “apostle of the mass media.” To better “win the world for the Immaculata,” the friars utilized the most modern printing and administrative techniques.
prisoners. He showed no hostility to Nazi guards. For all this, he was singled out for beatings and cruel tortures. A man of peace, deprived of all power, he still had the power of truth. Nazis were so intimidated by him they ordered him not to look at them. They could not endure the power of his eyes.
He used every available modern technology to further the gospel and devotion to Our Lady. He was a true “apostle of the mass media.”
A Man for Others: Maximilian Kolbe, Saint of Auschwitz, In the Words of Those Who Knew Him by Patricia Treece Hardcover.
Franciszek Gajowniczek lived to the ripe old age of 93 thanks to the self-sacrifice of a Polish Franciscan priest in Auschwitz in July 1941. ‘Kolbe’s body was burned in a crematorium that is still standing today,’ Gajowniczek said. ‘He was burned and the wind carried his ashes to the four corners of the world, just like all the other millions of prisoners.’ ‘He was always beaten because when the SS men would ask him to identify himself he would always respond: ‘I am a Catholic priest.” Gajowniczek devoted much of the rest of his life to promoting knowledge of the Franciscan, giving talks about the saint in various countries. His mission to “repay a debt”, as he put it, was rewarded in 1971, when Kolbe was beatified
August 14th Feast Day for St. Maximilian Kolbe, Patron Saint of the Pro-Life Movement