Martyr of charity

To the priest who took another man’s place at Auschwitz.

In July 1941, after an escape from Auschwitz, ten men were selected to die of starvation. One cried out that he had a wife and children. Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan priest, stepped forward and asked to take his place. He was the last of the ten to die.

The Prayer

St. Maximilian Kolbe,
you gave your life for a stranger
and you did it without a speech.

Pray for prisoners, for the addicted,
for those trapped by other people's decisions,
and for anyone whose name has been replaced by a number.

Give me your kind of courage:
not the sort that makes a scene,
but the sort that steps forward quietly when it is needed.

And give me your love for Our Lady,
who you said would take care of everything else. Amen.

About This Devotion

His feast is 14 August. Franciszek Gajowniczek, the man whose place he took, survived the camp, lived to be ninety-three, and was present at Kolbe’s canonisation in 1982. Kolbe is patron of prisoners, families, journalists and those struggling with addiction.