On August 14, 2024, a Mass celebrating the feast day of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe took place near Block 11 in Auschwitz, the former Nazi concentration camp. His Eminence Cardinal Stanisław DZIWISZ, Archbishop Emeritus of Cracow, Poland, presided over the Mass. Many faithful attended, including the members of three organized pilgrimages.
“Eighty-three years ago” said Cardinal DZIWISZ, “a man in this tragic place stood up to the blasphemous ideology of the Nazis and their entire machine of hatred and violence. Maximilian M. Kolbe was a friar-priest from Poland and a spiritual son of St. Francis. He was forced to confront an evil he did not want to, an evil he could not combat. In human terms, he was defenseless and considered worthless in that place, just like his fellow sufferers who were prisoners in Auschwitz-Birkenau. However, Maximilian had a weapon at his disposal, one he learned and read about in the Gospels and carried throughout his life. That weapon was love.”
The cardinal went on to say that on this day, St. Maximilian would tell us it is worth betting on God and having God as the foundation upon which we build our personal, family and social lives; that it is worth defending Jesus and choosing his Gospel of love as the program of our lives; that it is worth entrusting everything we do to the Mother of Christ; and that it is worth deepening our bond with Christ and his Church.
“There is no doubt,” the cardinal continued, “that today, St. Maximilian would be on the frontline defending human life from conception to natural death. He would certainly protest against the failure to recognize human dignity and rights, and would ask us to take the side of the poor, the weak, and the marginalized in society. He would certainly ask us not to succumb to the temptations of selfishness, hedonism and consumerist lifestyles.”
Also present at the Mass was the Most Reverend Ludwig SCHICK, Archbishop Emeritus of Bamberg, Germany, who was visiting Auschwitz for the fifteenth time. “Even though I have been here many times,” he said, “I am always shocked by the cruelty that was shown here. The inhumanity of those who participated in the death machine is inconceivable. Everything humanly possible must be done to ensure that such a thing never happens again. At the same time, every year I also think of St. Maximilian Kolbe. I am always moved by his humanity, which he maintained in this hell of inhumanity.” The archbishop also mentioned the wars going on in the world today, particularly those in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan. In his opinion, racism and genocide are not over and the recipe for healing this situation is for people to convert to the one God, to reconcile and to make peace.
The Minister Provincial of the Province of St. Anthony and Bl. James of Strepar in Poland (Cracow), Friar Mariusz KOZIOŁ, was also present at the Mass. He expressed his gratitude to the devotees of St. Maximilian, who emulate him and annually visit the site of his execution.
“Friar Maximilian,” said the Minister Provincial, “has shown that there is always time for love and doing good, even when it seems impossible.”
Others praying at the altar in the concentration camp were Bishop Roman PINDEL of Bielsko-Żywiec, Poland; Auxiliary Bishop Robert CHRZĄSZCZ of Cracow; the Vicar General of the Order, Friar Jan MACIEJOWSKI; the National President of the Knights of the Immaculata in Poland, Friar Ryszard ŻUBER; the Dean of the Deanery of Oświęcim [Auschwitz, part of the Diocese of Bielsko-Żywiec], Father Mariusz KISZCZAK; the Director of the Center for Dialogue and Prayer in Oświęcim [Auschwitz], Father Dariusz CHROSTOWSKI; priests of the Diocese of Bielsko-Żywiec and the Archdiocese of Crakow; Franciscan men’s and women’s religious; Father Kolbe Missionaries of the Immaculata; Knights of the Immaculata; members of the Blood Donors Club of the Knights of the Immaculata; Crusaders in Defense of Conceived Life; pilgrims from Brazil and young people from the University of Southern California in the United States.
The Mass was also attended by local authorities and representatives of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum; employees of the Cracow branch of the Institute of National Remembrance; and representatives of the municipalities of Oświęcim [Auschwitz] and Zduńska Wola, Poland.
Before the Mass, the concelebrants laid flowers in Roll-Call Square, at the Execution Wall, and in the Death Cell of St. Maximilian. In the morning, they took turns attending services at the Church of St. Maximilian the Martyr in Oświęcim, and the St. Maximilian Center in Harmęże, Poland.
Friar Jan Maria SZEWEK
