The Saints Library
A biographical archive of saints
Maximilian Kolbe
Priest · Modern Era · Roman
A Franciscan friar who used modern media to spread the Gospel, founding a massive monastery and publishing house in Poland. Arrested by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz, he volunteered to die in place of a stranger, Franciszek Gajowniczek, who had a family. Thrown into a starvation bunker, he led the other prisoners in hymns and prayer, transforming a hellish cell into a chapel. He is known as the 'Martyr of Charity'.
Feast Day
August 14
Interactive Lessons
A saint's whole life, in two minutes
Illustrated, swipeable journeys through the lives that changed the world.
Prayer of the Day
Peace Prayer of St. Francis
Oratio Sancti Francisci pro Pace
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
— St. Francis of Assisi
Browse the Archive