St. Rita, pray for us!
A man named Maximilian Kolbe volunteered to die in place of a stranger in a concentration camp.
A man named Maximilian Kolbe volunteered to die in place of a stranger in a concentration camp.
Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar. Born January 8, 1894 as Rajmund Kolbe, he was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church in 1982 for taking a stranger’s place in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
To the Catholic readers, this may not be a surprise, as he is the patron saint of drug addicts, political prisoners, families, journalists, prisoners, and the pro-life movement. The late Pope John Paul II even declared him “The Patron Saint of Our Difficult Century.”
During World War II, Kolbe provided shelter to refugees from Greater Poland, including more than 2,000 Jews that he hid from Nazi persecution in his friary. He was also an anti-Nazi radio host during this time. On February 17, 1941, however, he was caught and arrested by the Gestapo.
On May 25, he was moved to Auschwitz. In July of that year, a man from Kolbe’s barracks vanished, in what was believed to be an escape attempt. In order to discourage further attempts, the deputy camp commander picked ten men from the same barracks to be starved to death in Block 13, which was notorious for torture.
One of the chosen men, named Franciszek Gajowniczek, was hysterical over the idea of never seeing his family again. Kolbe took his place. During the starvation time, Kolbe led the men in song and prayer. After an incredible three weeks, Kolbe and three others were still alive.
They were all killed by an injection of carbolic acid. The worst part was that the man who was thought to have escaped was found drowned in the latrine. Gajowniczek survived to be liberated from Auschwitz, though, which means Kolbe’s sacrifice was still worthwhile.
Though his sons had died, Gajowniczek’s wife had survived. He lived with her until her death in 1977. Gajowniczek himself died in 1995.
http://bit.ly/JGMZXb
Yeah, he’s also a FREAKING SAINT. FORGOT TO MENTION THAT DIDN’T YOU, EH?
SAINT.
BIG DEAL.
St. Gianna
St. Gianna Beretta was born in Magenta (Milan) October 4, 1922. Already as a youth she willingly accepted the gift of faith and the clearly Christian education that she received from her excellent parents. As a result, she experienced life as a marvellous gift from God, had a strong faith…
SAINT GIANNA, I LOVE YOU
St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us!
Oh gosh, I needed to hear this.
Composing a Litany of Saints because reasons.
St. Thérèse, pray for us.
St. Augustine, pray for us.
St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.
St. Michael the Archangel, pray for us.
St. Josemaría Escrivá, pray for us.
St. Edith Stein, pray for us.
St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.
St. John the Apostle, pray for us.
St. Cecilia, pray for us.
Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, pray for us.
Bl. Chiara Bedano, pray for us.
Bl. Pope John Paul II, pray for us.
Ven. Solanus Casey, pray for us.
Servant of God Fulton Sheen, pray for us.
In one of the fiercest Catholic persecutions of the last 100 years, “God’s Jester”, Fr Miguel Agustín Pro, SJ, was executed for his witness to Christ among the faithful of Mexico.
Fr Miguel Pro’s last request prior to execution on November 23, 1927 was to be allowed to kneel and pray. …as Fr Pro walked from his cell to the courtyard and the firing squad, he blessed the soldiers, knelt and briefly prayed quietly. Declining a blindfold, he faced his executioners with a crucifix in one hand and a rosary in the other and held his arms out in imitation of the crucified Christ and shouted out, “May God have mercy on you! May God bless you! Lord, Thou knowest that I am innocent! With all my heart I forgive my enemies!” Before the firing squad were ordered to shoot, Fr Pro raised his arms in imitation of Christ and shouted the defiant cry of the Cristeros,
“¡Viva Cristo Rey!”
— “Long live Christ the King!” When the initial shots of the firing squad failed to kill him, a soldier shot him point-blank.
In 1927 when Father Miguel Pro was executed, no one could have predicted that 52 years later the bishop of Rome would visit Mexico, be welcomed by its president and celebrate open-air Masses before thousands of people. Pope John Paul II made additional trips to Mexico in 1990, 1993 and 1999.
Those who outlawed the Catholic Church in Mexico did not count on the deeply rooted faith of its people and the willingness of many of them, like Fr Miguel Pro, to die as martyrs. During his homily at the beatification Mass, Pope John Paul II said that Father Pro “is a new glory for the beloved Mexican nation, as well as for the Society of Jesus. His life of sacrificing and intrepid apostolate was always inspired by a tireless evangelising effort. Neither suffering nor serious illness, neither the exhausting ministerial activity, frequently carried out in difficult and dangerous circumstances, could stifle the radiating and contagious joy which he brought to his life for Christ and which nothing could take away (see John 16:22). Indeed, the deepest root of self-sacrificing surrender for the lowly was his passionate love for Jesus Christ and his ardent desire to be conformed to Him, even unto death.”
Estoy convencido de que lo único que puede llevar al cambio es vivir haciendo el bien hasta la muerte. La respuesta a situaciones como la nuestra pide tal amor a la vida que se es capaz de darla para que esta florezca con abundancia.
—Fr Miguel Agustín Pro, SJ
(Source: americancatholic.org, via badwolfcomplex)
So yeah.
Arrow to the knee?
PFFFFF GET OUT AND COME BACK WHEN YOU HAVE REAL THINGS.
St. Ignatius took a cannonball to the leg and still founded the Jesuits.
The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes
On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus. A little more than three years later, on February 11, 1858, a young lady appeared to Bernadette Soubirous. This began a series of visions. During the…
<3
Also, St. Bernadette’s feast day is my birthday. Yay. :)
"I never have any difficulty believing in miracles, since I experienced the miracle of a change in my own heart."
St. Augustine (via pilesofbooks)
(Source: ephremhiphop, via sweetandlovelygirl7)
Someone should probably take away my Internet for this one but I’m not sorry.
Happy feast day, St. Thomas Aquinas!
A+
This completely made my night.
One of my former professors is a Thomist philosopher and body builder who has a sign on his office that reads, “Dumb Ox Gym.”
(via mariaishismiddlename)
I definitely have this exact image of St. Michael on a holy card. I didn’t know there were some for the other Archangels too!!
(Source: novangla, via badwolfcomplex)
