Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr

Maximilian was born in 1894 in Poland and became a Franciscan. He was dedicated to Mary, and worked to help others live their faith. In 1936 he returned to Germany from his work in Japan because of ill health. After the Nazi invasion in 1939, he was imprisoned and released for a time. But in 1941 he was arrested again and sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. On July 31, 1941, in reprisal for one prisoner's escape, ten men were chosen to die. Father Kolbe offered himself in place of a young husband and father. And he was the last to die, enduring two weeks of starvation, thirst, and neglect.