Franciscan priest and religious founder martyred by the Nazis for aiding Jewish refugees during World War II.
Kolbe joined the Franciscan Conventuals in n1907 and in 1912 went to Rome where he studied theology and philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
Contributing significantly to the international Marian movement, he founded the sodality (devotional association) of the Militia of Mary Immaculate before being ordained priest (1918).
Back in Poland he began the popular Catholic monthly Rycerz Niepokalanej (The Knight of Mary Immaculate) and founded (1927) the City of Mary Immaculate (Niepokalanów), a religious centre.
A fervent advocate of devotion to the Virgin Mary´s cult he later founded sister institutions in Japan (1930) and India.
Returning to Poland, Kolbe became superior of the City of Mary Immaculate and director of Poland´s chief Catholic publishing complex.
For his ant-Naziism he was arrested by the Gestapo in 1939; released he was again arrested in February 1941 on charges of aiding Jews and the Polish underground.
He was imprisoned at Warsaw and then shipped to Auschwitz where he volunteered his life in the place of the condemned inmate Franciszek Gajowniczek, applying devoutly and ultimately Christ´s commandment: "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). First starved, he was finally injected with phenol and cremated.
On October 17, 1971, Kolbe was beatified by Pope Paul VI, the first Nazi victim to be proclaimed blessed by the Roman Catholic Church. Present at the solemn beatification at St Peter´s basilica was Gajowniczek, a dramatic footnote to Kolbe´s sacrifice.
His feast day is August 14.
The Death Camp Proved Him Real by M. Winowska appeared in 1971.
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