A new volume of “Fonti Kolbiane” [Kolbean Sources] has been released in Italian. The publication contains the “Letters” of our saint.
“There are a total of 1035 letters in ‘The Letters of St. Maximilian’. (The 1997 edition had 1028). The first and the last of these letters are addressed to his mother, Maria Kolbe. The first letter dates back to December 28, 1912, when the future saint was a young student-friar at the College of Friars Minor Conventual in Cracow. In it, he explains how his formation experience is going and mentions his transfer to the International College in Rome. His last letter was written in Auschwitz on June 15, 1941, shortly before his death” (from the introduction to the first volume, p. 7).
The text of the second volume has been divided into three sections:
– Letters from December 28, 1912 to February 1, 1930
– Letters from February 27, 1930 to June 18, 1936
– Letters from July 7, 1936 to June 15, 1941.
The book was edited by four confreres, Friars Raffaele DI MURO, Emil KUMKA, Tomasz SZYMCZAK and Roman WADACH. It was published by Edizioni Messaggero Padova In addition to the “Letters” of Saint Maximilian, the new book contains two brief introductions (A general introduction covering all of the volumes and an introduction for this second volume alone. The new book also features a chronology of the life of the martyr.
Next year, the third and final volume of “Fonti Kolbiane” should be released. It will contain lectures by St. Maximilian, documents chosen from the beatification and canonization processes, and indexes for the three volumes.
Friar Emil KUMKA
From: www.franciszkanie.pl
