Saint Maximilian Kolbe
- Feast
- 14 August
- Patron of
- prisoners, journalists, families, drug addicts and the pro-life movement
Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Franciscan friar, born in 1894, who founded the Militia of the Immaculata and a large friary near Warsaw that printed Catholic magazines by the hundred thousand. He also worked as a missionary in Japan. Arrested by the Nazis in 1941, he was sent to Auschwitz, where he died on 14 August that year.
When a prisoner was chosen to die by starvation in reprisal for an escape, Kolbe stepped forward and asked to take the place of the man, a husband and father. After two weeks in the bunker he was killed by lethal injection. John Paul II canonised him in 1982. He is painted in his friar's habit or in the striped uniform of the camp.
He gave his life for a stranger with a family, choosing to die so that another man could go home. For a confirmation candidate he shows plainly what it means to lay down your life for another.
The print of Saint Maximilian Kolbe
Questions
When is the feast of Saint Maximilian Kolbe?
The feast of Saint Maximilian Kolbe is kept on 14 August.
What is Saint Maximilian Kolbe the patron saint of?
Saint Maximilian Kolbe is the patron saint of prisoners, journalists, families, drug addicts and the pro-life movement.
Is Saint Maximilian Kolbe a good confirmation saint?
He gave his life for a stranger with a family, choosing to die so that another man could go home. For a confirmation candidate he shows plainly what it means to lay down your life for another.
Is Saint Maximilian Kolbe the patron saint of people named Maximilian?
Yes. Saint Maximilian Kolbe is the traditional name saint for anyone called Maximilian, Maximiliano and Max, and the feast on 14 August is their name day.
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Other patron saints
AgnesAnneAnthony of PaduaAugustine of HippoBenedict of NursiaBernadette SoubirousCarlo AcutisCatherine of SienaCeciliaChristopherClare of AssisiDominicDymphnaFaustina KowalskaFrancis of AssisiFrancis XavierGeorgeGerard MajellaGianna Beretta MollaIgnatius of LoyolaJoan of ArcJohn of the CrossJohn Paul IIJohn the BaptistJosephJosephine BakhitaJuan DiegoJude ThaddeusKateri TekakwithaLucyMartin de PorresMary MagdaleneMichael the ArchangelMonicaNicholasPadre PioPatrickPaulPeregrine LaziosiPeterPier Giorgio FrassatiRita of CasciaSebastianTeresa of ÁvilaTeresa of CalcuttaThérèse of LisieuxThomas AquinasJeromeCatherine of AlexandriaMartin of Tours