Maximilian Kolbe

Patron ofDrug Addicts, Political Prisoners, Families, Journalists

SituationsAddiction, Political Imprisonment, Self-sacrifice

ProfessionsJournalists, Publishers, Radio Operators

Life

Saint Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a stranger at the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1941. Born in 1894, he founded the Militia Immaculatae and was a pioneer of using modern media for evangelization. When a prisoner was selected for death by starvation, Kolbe stepped forward and offered his life instead. He was killed by lethal injection after two weeks.