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<img height='275' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/1630.jpg'> 
St. Maximilian Kolbe 
75th Anniversary of Death 
Scott 1630 (2016)</center>
 
August 14 marks the feast day for the Polish priest and martyr Saint Maximilian Kolbe. As was seen with Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, who feast was celebrated on August 9, Maximilian Kolbe was martyred at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. He is remembered on the stamp shown above, along with the 2016 postal card for Vatican City, commemorating the 75th anniversary of his death. Milanese artist Marco Ventura designed the €1,00 stamp and the €2,30 postal card for this memorial. Kolbe is depicted on the stamp preaching to a diverse group of people, including a German soldier. The saint holds a banner reading "Solo L'amore Crea" ("Only Love Creates"), and a palm branch, a symbol of sacrifice, is included in the design. A black and white version of the stamp is represented as the postal indicium on the postal card, which is presented at the bottom of this article. The Kolbe stamp and postal card are reminiscent of the stamps issued by Vatican City for the World Refugee Year of 1959-1960, which featured the painting by Piero della Francesca, entitled "Our Lady of Mercy”:
 
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<img height='275' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/280.jpg'> 
World Refugee Year 
Scott 280 (1960)</center>
 
Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) was a Polish priest, born at Zdunska Wola, part of the Russian partition of Poland. His was a family of devout Catholics; his parents were to became Franciscan tertiaries. In 1914, Kolbe’s father joined Polish patriots headed by Pilsudski and was hanged as a traitor by the Russians.
 
Maximilian had a strong devotion to the Blessed Mother, and he studied in Rome, where he was ordained. Upon his return to Poland, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, but went on to found a magazine focused on Catholic apologetics and was active in other publishing ventures while still affected by his illness. He founded a Franciscan community in Warsaw which, as historian David Farmer describes:
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combined prayer with cheerfulness and poverty with modern technology: daily as well as weekly newspapers were now produced.
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He also founded a Franciscan community in Japan.
 
With the 1939 invasion of Poland, Kolbe dissolved his Franciscan community, which the Nazis turned into a refugee camp for 3,000 Poles and 1,500 Jews. Kolbe and four companions were transferred to Auschwitz in May 1941, which was both a labor and death camp. He heard confessions when possible and smuggled in wine and bread for the Eucharist. David Farmer writes Kolbe:
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was conspicuous for sympathy and compassion towards those even more unfortunate than himself.
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When a group of prisoners escaped, some of the remaining prisoners were selected at random by the guards for death by starvation. Kolbe volunteered to die in the place of another man who had a family. Confined to Cell 18, Kolbe and others prepared to die with dignity following the example of Christ’s passion. After two weeks, only Kolbe survived. He was then injected with phenol and died on 14 August 1941, at the age of 47.
 
Kolbe was beatified in 1971 and canonized as a martyr to charity by Pope John Paul II, formerly the Archbishop of Krakow, the diocese which includes Auschwitz. The Polish solider whose life was spared by Kolbe was present at the canonization.
 
Cell 18 may be visited by visitors to Auschwitz where a memorial, in part recalling John Paul II’s visit, is on display. A connected adjacent courtyard includes the wall against which other Auschwitz prisoners were shot.
 
In 2025, a movie telling the story of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, entitled Triumph of the Heart, was released. Click <a href='https://www.triumphoftheheart.com/'>HERE</a> to go to the movie's website, which includes a short trailer remembering the passion of this 20th century martyr and saint.
 
<center><img height='250' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/P210a.jpg'>
<img height='250' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/P210b.jpg'> 
St. Maximilian Kolbe 
75th Anniversary of Death 
Vatican City 2016 Postal Card</center>
 
REFERENCES: 
<li>Farmer, David, Oxford Dictionary of Saints 
<li>Beutner, Dawn Marie, Saints: Becoming an Image of Christ Every Day of the Year 
<li>Wikipedia, <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe'>Maximilian Kolbe</a> 
<li>Hamilton, James C., Vatican Notes, Volume 65, Number 371, pp. 35-39, 2017, <a href='http://vaticanstamps.org/vaticannotes/idisplay.php?p=65-371-34-35&r=0'>Essays for the St. Maximilian Kolbe Issue</a>
<li>Triumph of the Heart website, www.triumphoftheheart.com 
<li>Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search

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