St Maximilian was born in Poland in 1894 and died in Auschwitz on this day in 1941. He had a great love of Our Lady. Seeing her in a vision, he said: ‘That night, I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me, a child of faith. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both’.  He joined the Conventual Franciscans and later founded the Militia of the Immaculata. At the time of the Second World War, Kolbe was living at Niepokalanów, the ‘City of the Immaculata’, which he had established in 1927. In February 1941, he was arrested by the Gestapo for hiding Jews and was sent to Auschwitz.

In July 1941, three prisoners escaped from the camp. As a result, ten men were chosen to be starved to death in an underground bunker. One of the men had a wife and children, and cried out. When Maximilian heard this, he immediately offered to take the man’s place. The astonished official accepted the offer. Maximilian died by lethal injection in the bunker.

May his integrity and truth inspire us, and his prayers assist us; and may God bless you this day.