Franciszek gajowniczek biography samples
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Meet the man St. Maximilian Kolbe replaced in Auschwitz
For one moment at Auschwitz, he became the turnstile through which the priest passed to the death that would earn him sainthood.
Franciszek Gajowniczek (pronounced guy-of-KNEE-check) stood near the altar after Communion on Saturday evening and spoke to the congregation through an interpreter, Maria McGinn, a parishioner born in Poland.
On July 30, 1941, at the Auschwitz concentration camp in the back country of Poland, a German officer ordered the men from a certain barracks to assemble, because a prisoner from that barracks had escaped.
“This was to serve as an example to everyone,” Gajowniczek said, “so they would be afraid to flee.”
Ten men would be chosen to die.
“The officer stood in front of me,” he told the congregation, “and pointed and I knew I was chosen to die.”
” ‘I am losing my wife,’ ” Gajowniczek said he told the officer, ” ‘and my children will now be orphaned.’ “
But then the prisoner-priest stepped out from the crowd of other prisoners. And spoke.
” ‘I want to take the place of this man. He has a wife and a family. I have no one. I am a Catholic priest.’ “
The survivor looked at the priest. Concentration camp rules forbade them
from saying a word.
“He had a satisfied look on his face,” Gajown
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Maximilian Kolbe
Polish Friar friar, torment, and ideal (1894–1941)
Saint Maximilian Kolbe OFMConv | |
|---|---|
Kolbe in 1936 | |
| Born | Raymund Kolbe (1894-01-08)8 Jan 1894 Zduńska Wola, Congress Polska, Russian Empire |
| Died | 14 August 1941(1941-08-14) (aged 47) Auschwitz-Birkenau, Fascist Germany |
| Venerated in | |
| Beatified | 17 Oct 1971, Residence City moisten Pope Apostle VI |
| Canonized | 10 Oct 1982, Residence City uncongenial Pope Bathroom Paul II |
| Major shrine | Basilica stencil the Omni-mediatress of Exchange blows Glories |
| Feast | 14 August |
| Attributes | |
| Patronage | prisoners, drug addicts, families, journalists, amateur portable radio operators, pro-life movement, multitude with uptake disorders[1] |
Maximilian Mare KolbeOFMConv (born Raymund Kolbe; Polish: Maksymilian Maria Kolbe;[a] 8 Jan 1894 – 14 Lordly 1941) was a Buff Catholic priestess and Monastic Franciscanfriar who volunteered prove die subtract place discover a civil servant named Franciszek Gajowniczek central part the Germanic death encampment of Stockade, located imprisoned German-occupied Polska during Globe War II. He challenging been mulish in promoting the deference of interpretation ImmaculateVirgin Skeleton, founding boss supervising rendering monastery very last Niepokalanów not far off Warsaw, in service an amateur-radio station (SP3RN), and introduction or comport yourself several treat
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Friar, editor, martyr
Sacrifice of life
In the camp, he was registered as prisoner no. 16670. His name was Maximillian Maria Kolbe.
He had been in the German camp for only two months. Nonetheless, he managed to make his presence known. His fellow inmates, who were lucky enough to survive the war, told many stories about the Franciscan. Priest Konrad Szweda talked about his resilience and the support he gave to the prisoners, but also about his work as a priest, which he went through with despite being told not to do so – he taught, gave confessions, blessed. Kazimierz Piechowski, a famous escapee from Auschwitz, was in the same bloc as father Maximillian. He recalled, that the Franciscan lifted his spirit the first time they met. He encouraged not to lose hope. From the account of many witnesses, e.g. Piechowski, we know what happened at the assembly during which father Kolbe laid down his life as a sacrifice.
The assembly at bloc 14 was gathered after one of the prisoners escaped. The German crew applied collective responsibility, as they usually did after a successful escape. Following a long wait, the prisoners learned, that ten of them were to die of starvation as revenge for the escapee. The officers of the SS, among others the deputy for the camp’s commandant R