On February 14, 2026, an exhibition recounting the life, activities, and heroic sacrifice of the martyr from Poland was inaugurated and blessed at the St. Maximilian Kolbe Shrine in Carini, (Sicily) Italy.
The Italian National Center of the Militia of the Immaculata (M.I.) sent eighteen exhibition panels to the Shrine to be displayed at various branches of the M.I. in Sicily and Calabria, Italy. The inauguration took place during a gathering of M.I. members from thirty churches and parishes in western Sicily, Italy, including some Conventual Franciscan churches.
A total of 140 M.I. members attended the gathering. Among them were the M.I. National President, Diego TORRE; the M.I. Regional President, Giovanna INCHIAPPA, the Regional Vice President, Salvo LA PIANA; and the two friars from the Kolbe Center in Carini who welcomed the guests.
At the beginning of the gathering, the Director of the Kolbe Center, Friar Guglielmo BARBASSO, blessed the new Kolbe exhibition, which was appreciated by all who saw it. Visitors followed a series of panels showing Kolbe’s birth, martyrdom, his great achievements and, above all, his foundation of the Militia of the Immaculata, which took place in Rome in 1917.
From the various educational and informative presentations at the gathering, there emerged a clear desire to follow the trail blazed by St. Maximilian with a new approach, in order to better face the challenges of the present moment and to live the spirit of Kolbe’s Marian legacy with fresh enthusiasm. The participants also discussed some organizational matters and Friar Paolo FIASCONARO, the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Il Cavaliere dell’Immacolata [Knight of the Immaculate], encouraged everyone to make the most of the publication’s content, which each month serves as a formative workshop and a timely communication tool, in keeping with the teachings of Father Kolbe, the founder of the magazine.
The National President and the Regional President outlined guidelines for the new direction of the M.I. of Italy and its vibrant and vital community in Sicily. This Marian vitality is evidenced by the 1,400 M.I. members living in Sicily. Sicily has seventy local M.I. chapters, averaging twenty members each. They show how profoundly Marian Sicily really is. This is due in part to the long-serving Regional Assistants: Friar Francesco RANDAZZO, who, in the 1960s, founded the Citadel of the Immaculata in the Tre Fontane area of Rome; Friar Tommaso GAUDIO; and, over the past thirty years, Friar Luigi GATTUSO; as well as the current Minister Provincial, Friar Salvino M. PULIZZOTTO, and the current National President of the M.I. of Italy, Diego TORRE.
At the conclusion of the gathering, the heads of the local centers were presented with a two-volume book by Friars Francesco FRANCAVIGLIA and Francesco COSTA, both from Sicily, entitled: “La Sicilia per la Milizia dell’Immacolata” [Sicily for the Militia of the Immaculata].
Friar Paolo FIASCONARO
