On Saturday, January 11, 2025, in commemoration of the birthday of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe (January 8, 1894), a Kolbean conference was held at the Conventual Franciscan Major Seminary in Cracow to celebrate its Patron Martyr of Charity. The conference was entitled: “St. Maximilian and the Book of Creation.” It was organized jointly by the seminary and the Institute of Franciscan Studies.

The common theme of the conference lectures was the Canticle of the Creatures or the Canticle of Brother Sun, one of the most famous and beloved texts in Christian literature from the Middle Ages. It was composed eight hundred years ago (1225) by St. Francis of Assisi.
Father Wojciech WĘGRZYNIAK from the Pontifical John Paul II University in Cracow gave a lecture on the biblical theology of creation.
Friar Tomasz CZAJKA, OFM Conv., the Rector of the Franciscan Major Seminary in Cracow, gave a lecture entitled: “In All That Is Beautiful, He Saw the Most Beautiful. Discovering God in Creatures in St. Francis of Assisi.” Friar Andrzej ZAJĄC, OFM Conv., from the Institute of Franciscan Studies in Cracow, gave a lecture entitled: “Beauty in the Writings of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe.”
After the lectures, the organizers scheduled a panel discussion with the participation of Professor Zbigniew MIREK (Institute of Botany of the Polish Academy of Sciences); Friar Jerzy BRUSIŁO, OFM Conv., (Pontifical University of John Paul II in Cracow); and Magdalena KADZIAK (President of the Laudato Si’ Movement of Poland Foundation – Global Catholic Climate Movement, and a member of the Council for the Apostolate of the Laity of the Polish Bishops’ Conference). Friar Piotr BIELENIN, OFM Conv., Director of the Institute of Franciscan Studies, served as the moderator for this discussion on caring for creation.

The lectures and the discussion can be heard on the YouTube channel of the Basilica of St. Francis in Cracow, at: https://www.youtube.com/live/pqAVsidkHRg?si=SdulYZ6mPrEHyNuJ [Polish language only].

Friar Jan M. SZEWEK