Talk About The Saints

14 August 2026  John 15:12-16

Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr

“It was not you who chose Me, but I who chose you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.”  (John 15:16) 

In the Spring of 1941, Fr. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan priest, was arrested by the Nazis for harboring Jews and other refugees from the Nazis at his monastery, and for publishing anti-Nazi articles, and in May of that year was sent to Auschwitz.

Many pundits and progressives are very keen to express their differences over policy matters by calling their opponents “fascists” and “Nazis,” which has the disobliging effect of turning talk into shouting, and shouting into a reason for not talking anymore. It is possible that in an environment like that, the virtue and holiness of St. Maximilian Kolbe can get overlooked, or overpowered by all the vituperations and insults.

In late July there was an escape from Block 14, Fr. Maximilian’s block, and as punishment the commandant of the camp ordered ten men from Block 14 to be sent to the notorious Block 11 underground bunker where they would be starved to death. One of the condemned men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, pleaded for his life because he had a wife and children. Fr. Maximilian volunteered to take his place, and the commandant agreed.

After two weeks, Fr. Maximilian was still just barely alive. A guard came in with a needle full of carbolic acid. Fr. Maximilian willingly held up his arm for the injection. His last words were, “Ave Maria,” but in his weakened condition he was not able to finish the prayer. He died seconds later.

That was August 14, 1941.

The war finally ended in 1945, and not much was said about Fr. Maximilian Kolbe. In 1949 the Farnciscan Order opened a sainthood cause for him, but still not much was said.

Franciszek Gajowniczek, however, knew that he owed his life to Fr. Maximilian, and dedicated the remainder of his life to bearing witness to his sacrifice. He traveled all over Europe, and made several trips to the United States to lecture about the Holocaust, and specifically to tell the story of Fr. Maximilian Kolbe. He participated in laying the cornerstone for many churches named for the brave Franciscan priest, and was finally an honored guest of the Vatican when Fr. Maximilian was beatified in 1971, and canonized a saint by fellow Pole St. John Paul II in 1982.

Saints are made first and foremost by lives of heroic virtue and holiness.

Saints are also made by people talking about them.

It’s a little harder these days to talk about World War 2 and the Holocaust. Many pundits and progressives are very keen to express their differences over policy matters by calling their opponents “fascists” and “Nazis,” which has the disobliging effect of turning talk into shouting, and shouting into a reason for not talking anymore. It is possible that in an environment like that, the virtue and holiness of St. Maximilian Kolbe can get overlooked, or overpowered by all the vituperations and insults. All the more reason to appreciate, and emulate, the commitment of people like Franciszek Gajowniczek, who made it his life’s work to talk respectfully and peacefully about St. Maximilian Kolbe.

We need saints, and saints are made by people talking about them.

St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.