Franciscans Honor Saint of Auschwitz with Relic Tour Commemorating 75th anniversary of St. Maximilian Kolbe’s martyrdom,
Friars proclaim legacy of this modern saint.
Ellicott City, MD, January 15, 2016—To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan who died in the World War II concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland, the Franciscan Friars Conventual of the Our Lady of the Angels Province, are sponsoring a pilgrimage of St. Maximilian’s relics.
The largest tour of his relics ever mounted in the United States, this pilgrimage of St. Maximilian’s relics will start on January 15 at the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City, Maryland, and will visit 38 ministry sites along the east coast and Canada. The pilgrimage of St. Maximilian’s relics concludes with a closing ceremony at the Shrine of St. Anthony on St. Maximilian’s feast day, August 14.
Crafted from bronze and silver and presenting different symbols from his life, the beautiful reliquary houses strands from Maximilian’s beard. Describing the value of relics to contemporary believers, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv., Minister Provincial of the Our Lady of the Angels Province, says, “Relics remind us that saints were real human beings with hair, skin, bones and blood. We venerate relics to connect with the real person behind them – now proclaimed by the Church to be in Heaven, from where he or she remains interested and involved in our lives.” Each visit will include a liturgy, opportunities for veneration, and materials for further prayer and study.
In his lifetime St. Maximilian established the Militia Immaculata (MI), an evangelization movement identifying with Mary, the Immaculate, founded “Cities of the Immaculata” in Poland and Japan, and published countless religious works, a daily newspaper with a circulation of 230,000, and a monthly magazine with a circulation of over one million. Arrested by the Gestapo in 1941 and transferred to Auschwitz, Fr. Kolbe volunteered to take the place of an innocent husband and father who was scheduled to be killed by the Nazis. Still alive after two weeks of starvation, Fr. Kolbe was injected with a lethal dose of phenol on August 14, 1941.
Pope John Paul II canonized Maximilian as a “Martyr of Charity” and “Patron Saint of our difficult century” in 1982. St. Maximilian Kolbe is the patron saint of prisoners, journalists, families, the pro-life movement, and the chemically addicted.
Fr. Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv., Provincial Assistant to the MI, says “As Christians, we are called to reveal God’s love by our concrete actions. In our day, St. Maximilian’s martyrdom at Auschwitz is a preeminent manifestation of that.” Following up on what his confrere said, Fr. McCurry added, “His relevance to people in the 21st century lies in his validation that love conquers hate, and goodness will ultimately triumph over evil.”
WASHINGTON DC AREA The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC ~ February 17-21
Post Novitiate (St. Bonaventure Friary), Silver Spring, MD ~ February 22-24
As the new year quickly approaches, we friars would like to remind you of our upcoming
“Pilgrimage of the Relics of St. Maximilian Kolbe.”
From some of those strands, four identical reliquaries were created, one of which will be venerated during this pilgrimage.
In commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Conventual Franciscan Friar, St. Maximilian Kolbe, Our Lady of the Angels Province has scheduled a pilgrimage of a relic throughout our province U.S. and Canadian territory. The reliquary pictured here is one of four that was created in 1971 (11 years prior to his canonization – thus marked as B. Max. Kolbe as he was then only elevated to blessed) to hold a portion of his beard that in 1938 was shaved after Friar Maximilian received permission from his Minister Provincial. It contains many symbols from the life of St. Maximilian: the base is in the shape of his birthplace of Poland, covered in the “thorns” of occupation by the Third Reich. Out of those thorns, however, burst forth a lily of purity and a tulip of martyrdom – symbols of love triumphing over hate. The strands of our saint’s beard are housed in a glass case entwined with our Franciscan knotted cord representing his vocation to our Order and our vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.
St. Maximilian first grew out his long beard to enhance his missionary work in Japan where the beard helped to earn the respect of the people he served. Upon his return to Poland, under the National Socialism, the beard instead provoked not only his own persecution but the persecution of his fellow friars, “Beards provoke the enemy who rapidly is approaching our friary. Our Franciscan habits also will provoke him. I can part with my beard. I can’t sacrifice my habit.” After having shaved Maximilian’s beard, one of the friars placed it in a pouch. Strands of the beard still are preserved in the Niepokalanow archives. (Claude R. Foster, Mary’s Knight, Marytown Press 2013, p. 586) From some of those strands, four identical reliquaries were created, one of which will be venerated during this pilgrimage.
Click the above image to order copies of St. Maximilian Kolbe: Martyr of Charity
In 1941, St. Maximilian demonstrated heroic charity by giving his life in place of fellow prisoner, Franciszek Gajowniczek; a husband and father who was one of ten men chosen to suffer death by starvation after being subjected to hours of standing in the hot summer sun, in the Auschwitz (Poland) concentration camp during World War II as consequence for one prisoner’s successful escape. Franciszek’s a cry of despair,” What will become of my family?” moved Saint Maximilian to step forward and ask to be taken instead. Canonized October 10, 1982, St. Maximilian Kolbe was declared the “Patron Saint of our difficult century,” and a Martyr of Charity, by Pope Saint John Paul II.
PILGRIMAGE OF THE RELIC OF
ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE
2016 Itinerary (Updates Will Occur Upon Change)
A bearded St. Maximilian smiles over the heads of his fellow friars, over whom he served as Guardian
O God, who gave the Church and the world the priest and martyr
Saint Maximilian Kolbe, burning with love for the Immaculate Virgin Mary and with apostolic zeal for souls and heroic love of neighbor, graciously grant, through his intercession, that striving for Your glory by eagerly serving others, we may be conformed, even until death, to Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen
In commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Conventual Franciscan Friar, St. Maximilian Kolbe, Our Lady of the Angels Province has scheduled a pilgrimage of a relic throughout our province U.S. and Canadian territory. The relic is a portion of his beard that was shaved (1938). After he received permission from his Minister Provincial, St Maximilian decided to shave his beard, first grown to enhance his missionary work in Japan where the beard helped to earn the respect of the people he served. Upon his return to Poland, under the National Socialism, the beard would provoke persecution of his fellow friars. When asked why he shaved his beard, St. Maximilian responded, “Beards provoke the enemy who rapidly is approaching our friary. Our Franciscan habits also will provoke him. I can part with my beard. I can’t sacrifice my habit.” After having shaved Maximilian’s beard, one of the friars placed it in a pouch. Strands of the beard still are preserved in the Niepokalanow archives. (Claude R. Foster, Mary’s Knight, Marytown Press 2013, p. 586) From some of those strands, four identical reliquaries were created, one of which will be venerated during this pilgrimage. Please keep checking back on our website for more details, as our preparations continue. As for now, allow us to share the schedule so that those who wish to attend events at local ministries can “Save the Date.”
PILGRIMAGE OF THE RELIC OF ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE
2016 Itinerary (Updates Will Occur Upon Change)
WASHINGTON DC AREA The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC ~ February 17-21
Post Novitiate (St. Bonaventure Friary), Silver Spring, MD ~ February 22-24
O God, who gave the Church and the world the priest and martyr Saint Maximilian Kolbe, burning with love for the Immaculate Virgin Mary and with apostolic zeal for souls and heroic love of neighbor, graciously grant, through his intercession, that striving for Your glory by eagerly serving others, we may be conformed, even until death, to Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen
During the October 10, 1982 canonization of St. Maximilian Kolbe by Saint Pope John Paul II, many items were on hand to be blessed by the Holy Father, including a statue of St. Maximilian Kolbe that can be found in a small shrine on the property of the Shrine of St. Anthony, in Ellicott City.
On each side of the statue are prayers asking for the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe:
For Families and Friends of Someone Addicted to Drugs
St. Maximilian Kolbe, your life of love and labor of souls was sacrificed amid the horrors of a concentration camp and hastened to its end by injection of a deadly drug.
Look with compassion upon ________________ who is now entrapped in addiction to drugs or alcohol and whom we now recommend to your powerful intercession. Having offered your own life to preserve that of a family man, we turn to you with trust, confident that you will understand and help.
Obtain for us the grace never to withhold our love and understanding, nor to fail in persevering prayer that the enslaving bond of addiction may be broken and that full health and freedom may be restored to him/her whom we love.
We will never cease to be grateful to God who has helped us and heard your prayer for us.
Amen
Prayer for Prisoners
O Prisoner – Saint of Auschwitz,
help all prisoners in their plight, especially __________________
Introduce them to Mary,
the Immaculata, Mother of God.
She Prayed for Jesus in a Jerusalem jail.
She prayed for you in a Nazi prison camp.
Ask her to comfort all those in confinement.
May she teach them always to be good.
If they are lonely, may she say,
“God is here.”
If they feel hate, may she say,
“God is love.”
If they are tempted, may she say,
“God is pure.”
If they sin, may she say,
“God is mercy.”
If they are in darkness, may she say,
“God is light.”
If they are unjustly condemned, may she say,
“God is truth.”
If they have pain in soul or body, may she say,
“God is peace.”
If they lose hope, may she say,
“God is with you all days, and so am I.”
Amen
“When I think of St. Maximilian Kolbe, I hear Jesus saying to me again, ‘Love, to be true, to be real must cost, must hurt.’ St. Maximilian Kolbe knew what that meant, he knew how to love like Jesus. His life of giving until it hurt began long before he went to the concentration camp. That is why he could keep the joy of loving Jesus in his heart until the very end and share that joy with all with whom he came in contact. Who was his help in this? Who taught him the joy of giving until it hurt? Our Lady – to whom St. Maximilian had entrusted everything. The same will be true of us. If we entrust ourselves to Our Lady, the Cause of Our Joy. She will teach us the joy of loving like Jesus.”
(A quote from a letter from Blessed Mother Teresa to Fr. James McCurry, 20.I.95) McCurry, James. Maximilian Kolbe – Martyr of Charity. London: The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society, 2013.
On the Feast Day of St. Maximilian Kolbe (August 14th), the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. (Minister Provincial of Our Lady of the Angels Province) will be the recipient of the 2015 Kolbe Award, given on the Feast Day of St. Maximilian Kolbe – August 14th, presented at the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe – Marytown.
Our Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. is also a Kolbean Scholar and Mariolgist. He is pictured here at the October 10, 1982 canonization of St. Maximilian Kolbe by Saint Pope John Paul II. Friar Maksymilian Maria Kolbe, O.F.M. Conv. (St. Maximilian Kolbe) was also a Conventual Franciscan, as are we friars of the Our Lady of the Angels Province. He is the patron saint of addicts, prisoners, families, journalists and the pro-life movement. Fr. James will be the recipient of the 2015 Kolbe Award, given on the Feast Day of St. Maximilian Kolbe – August 14th, presented at the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe – Marytown.
One of Our Lady of the Angels Province’s pastoral ministries is at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, (Point Pleasant Beach, NJ). Aware that the levels of addiction and chemical dependency continue to increase in the county in which they live and serve the people of God, their parish is holding an Evening of Prayer for Consolation and Hope for all people who live with an addiction as well as for those who love them, on Thursday, August 13th at 7:00 p.m., on the Eve of the Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe. Two more pastoral ministries of our friars, The Church of St. Catharine of Siena (Seaside Park) and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish (Seaside Heights) are located nearby. The friars of these three parishes and their parishioners are encouraging attendance so as to promote healing in their community at large.
Please join in praying for all those suffering from addiction and for all those who love them, at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 13th, from wherever you are at that time, in union with the parish communities of St. Peter, St. Catharine and Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
NOVENA PRAYER
O Lord Jesus Christ, Who said, “greater love than this no man has that a man lay down his life for his friends,” through the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe whose life illustrated such love, we beseech You to grant us our petitions . . . (here mention the requests you have). Through the Militia Immaculata movement, which Maximilian founded, he spread a fervent devotion to Our Lady throughout the world. He gave up his life for a total stranger and loved his persecutors, giving us an example of unselfish love for all men – a love that was inspired by true devotion to Mary. Grant, O Lord Jesus, that we too may give ourselves entirely without reserve to the love and service of our Heavenly Queen in order to better love and serve our fellowman in imitation of Your humble servant, Maximilian. Amen.
(Say 3 Hail Marys and a Glory Be)
“And I wish to repeat to all of you who struggle against addiction, and to those family members who share in your difficulties: the Church is not distant from your troubles, but accompanies you with affection. The Lord is near you and He takes you by the hand. Look to Him in your most difficult moments and He will give you consolation and hope. And trust in the maternal love of His Mother Mary.” ~Pope Francis’ address to youth living with addiction
at St. Francis of Assisi of the Providence of God Hospital, on July 24, 2013
Franciscans Honor Saint of Auschwitz with Relic Tour
