On October 22, 1922, one hundred years ago, St. Maximilian Maria KOLBE arrived at the Conventual Franciscan friary in Hrodna (Grodno), Belarus.
The next day, St. Maximilian wrote a letter to his mother Maria, saying: “I am writing to you from a cell in the friary of Grodno.”
St. Maximilian opened his own printing house in Hrodna, where he, together with other friars, continued to publish the magazine Knight of the Immaculata. By the end of his five years of service at that friary, the monthly circulation of the magazine had reached 60,000 copies.
The main celebrations for the anniversary took place on October 13-16, 2022. The presence of the Minister General, Friar Carlos TROVARELLI was a great joy for the local friars, as was the presence of the Assistant General for the Foederatio Europae Mediae et Orientalis (FEMO), Friar Tomáš LESŇÁK, who was visiting Belarus for the first time. During Mass, the Minister General gave the homily and expressed his great joy that, after having visited all the other places linked to the life and activities of St. Maximilian, he was finally able to reach Hrodna.
The anniversary celebrations brought together friars from the friaries in Ivjanec, Udziela and Svislac in Belarus, as well as local faithful, pilgrims, and brothers and sisters from various centers of the Secular Franciscan Order around the country.
Friar Alaksiej JUCHNIEWICZ
