“It was raining, and although I walked a few streets, I was ashamed to go anywhere and hold out my hand for alms,” he said.
“The next day, however, I had a thought: After all, it’s not for you, but for the cause of Mary Immaculate in souls. I dared then and went to the parish priest that I knew. He welcomed me warmly, made a donation for a new magazine, brought me to his vicar for the same purpose, and gave me several addresses.”
Jędraszewski recalled that the first issue set out the publication’s goals: the formation of believers and the conversion of non-Catholics.
The magazine, financed entirely by donations, took off, reaching a peak circulation of 1 million copies in 1938.
The archbishop noted that the magazine continues to have a sizable circulation, of around 45,000. Following the saint’s wishes, it does not have a cover price and is made available to people who cannot afford a subscription.
“It is very important to convert to the brilliant inspiration of Father Maximilian Maria Kolbe,” Jędraszewski said.
Kolbe was born in Zduńska Wola, central Poland, in 1894. As a child, he saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary holding two crowns. She offered him the crowns — one of which was white, symbolizing purity, and the other red, indicating martyrdom — and he accepted them.
Kolbe joined the Conventual Franciscans in 1910, taking the name Maximilian. Fascinated by the possibility of space travel, he designed a craft known as an “Etereoplan” in 1918.
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In the early 1930s, he founded monasteries in Japan and India. He was appointed guardian of Niepokalanów monastery in 1936, founding the station Radio Niepokalanów two years later.
Following the German occupation of Poland, Kolbe was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. At a roll-call on July 29, 1941, guards selected 10 men to be starved to death as punishment after a prisoner escaped from the camp.
When one of those chosen, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out in despair for his wife and children, Kolbe offered to take his place.
The 10 men were held in a bunker where they were deprived of food and water. According to witnesses, Kolbe led the condemned prisoners in prayer and singing hymns. After two weeks, he was the only man still alive. Kolbe was killed by an injection of phenol on Aug. 14, 1941.
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