Maximilian Maria Kolbe was a Polish Catholic priest and Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek in the German death camp of Auschwitz, located in German-occupied Poland during World War II. He had been active in promoting the veneration of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, founding and supervising the monastery of Niepokalanów near Warsaw, operating an amateur-radio station (SP3RN), and founding or running several other organizations and publications.
Kolbe in 1936
Maximilian Kolbe's prison cell in Block 11, Auschwitz concentration camp
Kolbe, on a West German postage stamp, marked Auschwitz
The statue of Kolbe (left) above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey
Order of Friars Minor Conventual
The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (O.F.M.Conv.) is a male religious fraternity in the Catholic Church and a branch of the Franciscan Order. Conventual Franciscan Friars are identified by the affix O.F.M.Conv. after their names. They are also known as Conventual Franciscans or Minorites.
Basilica of St. Francis, Assisi, the most important church of the Order, where the saint's body is preserved.
A Conventual Franciscan in Brazil
