To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv., our province has sponsored a pilgrimage tour of 1st degree relics (fragments of his beard). This is the largest tour of St. Maximilian Kolbe relics in North America and will span the entire East Coast territory of the province. The relics have been in North Carolina since the end of February and will next visit St. Julia Catholic Church in Siler City (March 11th-13th). The Polish Community will be celebrating Mass on Sunday, March 13th at 2:00 p.m. Lenten Lamentations (traditional Lenten service) will be chanted at 1:30 pm in the church and the Mass will be followed by the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
Friar Jacek Laszczynski, OFM Conv. and the parishioners of (Iglesia Catolica de St. Julia) St. Julia Catholic Church welcome and invite you all to celebrate in the presence of the relics of this great Martyr of the 20th century and pray with them in his native language.
The parishioners of St. Julia performed a play about the life of St. Maximilian Kolbe, including this moment when he, as a small child, was offered the crown of purity and the crown of martyrdom by Our Lady. He chose both.
Parishioners of St. Julia portray the condemned prisoners in prayer alongside St. Maximilian Kolbe.
“On March 5th at Marytown, the first English critical edition of the Letters (Volume 1) and Other Writings (Volume 2) of St. Maximilian Kolbe was launched before a celebratory and packed Conference Center Auditorium. As the keynote speaker, {[Minister Provincial of Our Lady of the Angels Province, the Very Reverend] Fr. James [McCurry, OFM Conv.] captured everyone’s interest and emotions as he contextualized the 2500 pages of Kolbe’s writings, which were written mainly between the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II. That period was characterized by the extremes of Nazism on one side and Communism on the other. Between these totalitarian “isms” of godlessness, Fr. James said, Kolbe and his writings stand as a witness of hope. In today’s society, secularism and atheism remind us that the “isms” of godlessness and hatred are often still present. Just as Maximilian tried to touch and witness to all, even to his own companions in the death bunker, he wants to touch all of us today. What a better way to do that, Fr. James proposed, than through the saint’s writings. Needless to say, sales of the handsomely-bound, two volumes were quite brisk!” ~Fr. Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv. (M.I. Assistant)
The team that made these writings possible: Bro Charles, Fr. James, Antonella DiPiazza, Mary Farrow and Kit O’ Brien
The Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv., Minister Provincial of Our Lady of the Angels Province and recipient of Marytown’s 2015 St. Maximilian Kolbe Award, gave the Keynote address at the Saturday, March 5th Book Presentation and Celebration of the publication of the first English critical edition of “The Writings of St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, Volumes I & II.”
To order these volumes, click on the order form here and download your copy to mail to Marytown Press, 1600 W. Park Avenue, Libertyville, IL 60048. If you have any questions or have trouble getting the form, please call Marytown Press directly (800-743-1177) as we will not have any of the volumes available through our province.
The relics of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv. are currently on tour throughout our province territory on the east coast of North America. Newman Catholic Student Center Parish, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will host the relics on Monday, March 7th at 7:00 p.m., in the St. Mary of the Angels Chapel of the Activity Center. There will be a prayer service which includes readings from the life of St. Maximilian Kolbe, prayers, and veneration of the relic.
The Newman Catholic Student Center Parish is one of our most unique pastoral ministries. It is made up of a vibrant faith community located in downtown Chapel Hill, with a primary mission to spread the Gospel on the UNC campus and serve all Roman Catholic students, faculty, and residents in Chapel Hill. The parish and campus ministry are headed up by Our Lady of the Angels Province friars Fr. Michael Lasky, OFM Conv. and Fr. Bill Robinson, OFM Conv., who often are aided by the confreres who live in Durham’s St. Anthony of Padua Friary: Fr. Brad Heckathorne, OFM Conv., Fr. Michael Martin, OFM Conv. & friar Emanuel Vasconcelos, OFM Conv. who work in Campus Ministry at the Duke Catholic Center, as well as the pastor of Holy Cross Catholic Church, Fr. Andrew Santamauro, OFM Conv. In addition to being a full Roman Catholic parish, they are the active campus ministry on UNC’s campus, offering Faith Formation, Service Opportunities, Sacramental Preparation, and Community Building. Please feel free to join these friars and the parishioners of The Newman Catholic Student Center Parish for this special prayer service, on March 7th. At this service, the parish will also be commissioning all of their spring mission trip participants.
St. Maximilian Kolbe Prayer
St. Maximilian, amidst hate
and imprisonment, you
brought love into the lives of
fellow captives and sowed the
seeds of hope amidst despair.
You bore witness to the whole
world by word and deed that
“love alone creates.”
Heavenly Father,
You inflamed St. Maximilian
the friar and priest with love
for the Immaculate Virgin,
and filled him with zeal for
souls and love of neighbor.
Through his prayers, grant us
to work strenuously for Your glory
in the service of our sisters and brothers,
and so be made conformable to
Your Son until death.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
REVISION: The new hours are: Friday 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. & 7-8:00 p.m.
Saturday: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. (with prayer service at 11:00 a.m.) and 7-8:00 p.m.
Sunday, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Pilgrimage of Relics in commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Conventual Franciscan Friar, St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv.
In 1941, St. Maximilian demonstrated heroic charity by offering up his life in place of fellow prisoner, a husband & father, who was one of ten men chosen to suffer death by starvation, in the Auschwitz (Poland) WWII concentration camp as consequence for a prisoner’s successful escape. Canonized October 10, 1982, St. Maximilian Kolbe was declared the “Patron Saint of our difficult century,” and a Martyr of Charity, by Pope Saint John Paul II. Our Province is in the beginning stages of a 2016 pilgrimage of a relic to most of our ministry locations in the U.S.A. and Canada. The reliquary pictured here is one of four that was created in 1971 to hold a portion of his beard. Upon his return to Poland, under the National Socialism, the beard that once earned him the respect of the people he served as a missionary in Japan, instead provoked not only his own persecution but the persecution of his fellow friars, “Beards provoke the enemy who rapidly is approaching our friary. Our Franciscan habits also will provoke him. I can part with my beard. I can’t sacrifice my habit.” In 1938, after having shaved Maximilian’s beard, one of the friars placed it in a pouch. The reliquary also contains symbols from the life of St. Maximilian: the base is in the shape of his birthplace of Poland, covered in the “thorns” of occupation by the Third Reich. Out of those thorns, however, burst forth a lily of purity and a tulip of martyrdom – symbols of love triumphing over hate. The strands of our saint’s beard are hosed in a class case entwined with our Franciscan knotted cord representing his vocation to our Order and our vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.
The tour is currently headed to North Carolina where there will be several opportunities to venerate the relics. After spending February 27th-29th at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, in Burlington, Holy Cross Church is hosting the relics (March 5th-6th). All are invited to take advantage of this unique opportunity for prayer and veneration. Holy Cross Pastor and Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Andy Santomauro, OFM Conv., will lead an 11:00 a.m. prayer service Saturday, March 5th, in the parish sanctuary. The relic will also be available for veneration following the 10:00 a.m. Mass on Sunday, March 6th. Fr. Andy will also reflect on St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv. during his homily.
Symbols in Art: White Crown – Purity, Red Crown – Martyr, Franciscan Habit including Franciscan Crown/Rosary & Three Knotted Cord – Member of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (OFM Conv.), Prisoner Uniform with “P” & #16670 – Political Prisoner in Concentration Camp, Prisoner Uniform with “P” & #5659 – Franciszek Gajowniczek Whom He Replaced in Death and the Images of Auschwitz Concentration Camp – Location Martyred
The next Pilgrimage of the Relic of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv. stop is at our pastoral ministry of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Community, in Graham (Burlington, NC).
Our Lady of the Angels Province friars, Fr. Paul Lininger, OFM Conv. (Pastor),
Fr. Vincent Rubino, OFM Conv. (Associate Pastor) and
Fr. Briant Cullinane, OFM Conv. (Pastor Emeritus)
invite all to join the parish community for a prayerful reflection the the life and death of this great Martyr of Charity. The event includes veneration of the relic, February 27-29, 2016 at the Masses {Sat. 5:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. Spanish and Sun. 8:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m. & 12:30 p.m. Spanish).
There will also be a Special 3:00 p.m. Prayer Service on Sunday, February 28, 2016,
for those in need of or in recovery from addiction, as well as families & friends impacted.
There will also be an additional Prayer Service Monday, February 29, 2016, after 8:30 a.m. Mass.
Message from Fr. Paul:
“Blessed Sacrament was honored to host the relics of St. Maximilian Kolbe for the weekend of February 27-29, 2016. Because it was a special occasion for the parish community and others from the diocese, we decided to invite an outside speaker for the events which included homilies at all the Masses (both in English & Spanish), as well as, Sung Vespers on Sunday Afternoon, and then a special prayer service for Monday morning, Feb.29th. Fr. Michael Lorentsen, OFM Conv. was able to join us as the homilist for the occasion. In addition we included the members of the SFO from our parish along with the Knights of Columbus and the Columbiettes in the event. The relics were carried into the church at the beginning each service by the SFO members. It was a means of again recognizing their role here in the larger community and their ongoing quiet service to the community.”
If you cannot make these dates, know that the next stop on the tour is Holy Cross Catholic Church, (Durham, NC) March 5-6, 2016.
Relic Tour Background: To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Maximilian Kolbe (a friar of our Order of Friars Minor Conventual who died in the World War II concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland) our friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province have sponsored a pilgrimage of St. Maximilian’s relics (consisting of fragments of his beard). This is the largest tour of St. Maximilian Kolbe relics in the United States. It began on January 15, 2016 with an Opening Mass celebrated by our Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv., followed by veneration, held the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City, Maryland. The tour will include 38 of our friar’s ministry sites along the East Coast of the United States and Canada. The pilgrimage of St. Maximilian’s relics will return to our Ellicott City, MD ministry at the Shrine of St. Anthony for a concluding Closing Ceremony, on St. Maximilian’s feast day, August 14th.
There will be one stop in the Washington DC area on the Kolbe Relic Tour. The St. Maximilian Kolbe, OFM Conv. Relic Tour includes the February 17-19, 2016 stop at The Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC. Prayers and veneration will be open to the public each day for one half of an hour, from 6 – 6:30 pm, in Caldwell Chapel. The relic will stay at Catholic U through February 21st, but that Sunday veneration will be restricted to members of the CUA community.
More information from prior posts about theRelic Tour: To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Maximilian Kolbe (a friar of our Order of Friars Minor Conventual who died in the World War II concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland) our friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province have sponsored a pilgrimage of St. Maximilian’s relics (consisting of fragments of his beard). This is the largest tour of St. Maximilian Kolbe relics in the United States. It began on January 15, 2016 with an Opening Mass celebrated by our Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv., followed by veneration, held the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City, Maryland. The tour will include 38 ministry sites along the East Coast of the United States and Canada. The pilgrimage of St. Maximilian’s relics will return to our Ellicott City, MD ministry at the Shrine of St. Anthony for a concluding Closing Ceremony, on St. Maximilian’s feast day, August 14th.
During the weekend of February 13-15, 2016, the St. Maximilian Kolbe Relic tour will stop at St. Clement Mary Hofbauer Church, for the last stop in the Baltimore area. After that, it will travel to Washington D.C., to our ministry at The Catholic University of America, February 17-21, 2016. As Fr. Vincent Gluc, OFM Conv., pastor of St. Clement Mary Hofbauer Church wrote in the February 7th parish bulletin: St. Maximilian Kolbe, OFM Conv. was “Franciscan saint who volunteered to die, taking the place of another man, who was scheduled to be put to death in a concentration camp in Poland. Saint Maximilian Kolbe died by lethal injection on August 14, 1941. We are marking the 75th anniversary of his death this year. Please join us for a special Evening Prayer in honor of St. Maximilian Kolbe scheduled for Monday, February 15 at 7:00 pm in the Church. The theme of our celebration is: ‘St. Maximilian Kolbe, OFM Conv.: Martyr of Charity and Saint for our Difficult Times.‘” Please feel free to join Friar Vincent and the parish community of St. Clement Mary Hofbauer for veneration on February 15th.
More information from prior posts about theRelic Tour: To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Maximilian Kolbe (a friar of our Order of Friars Minor Conventual who died in the World War II concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland) our friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province have sponsored a pilgrimage of St. Maximilian’s relics (consisting of fragments of his beard). This is the largest tour of St. Maximilian Kolbe relics in the United States. It began on January 15, 2016 with an Opening Mass celebrated by our Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv., followed by veneration, held the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City, Maryland. The tour will include 38 ministry sites along the East Coast of the United States and Canada. The pilgrimage of St. Maximilian’s relics will return to our Ellicott City, MD ministry at the Shrine of St. Anthony for a concluding Closing Ceremony, on St. Maximilian’s feast day, August 14th.
Franciscans Honor Saint of Auschwitz with Relic Tour Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of St. Maximilian Kolbe’s
martyrdom, Friars proclaim legacy of this modern saint.
To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Maximilian Kolbe (a friar of our Order of Friars Minor Conventual who died in the World War II concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland) our friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province have sponsored a pilgrimage of St. Maximilian’s relics (consisting of fragments of his beard). This is the largest tour of St. Maximilian Kolbe relics in the United States. It began on January 15, 2016 with an Opening Mass celebrated by our Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv., followed by veneration, held the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City, Maryland. The tour will include 38 ministry sites along the East Coast of the United States and Canada. The pilgrimage of St. Maximilian’s relics will return to our Ellicott City, MD ministry at the Shrine of St. Anthony for a concluding Closing Ceremony, on St. Maximilian’s feast day, August 14th.
The Baltimore – MD area was hit hard by Winter Storm Jonas majorly effecting the 1st parish (St. Casimir) stop of the Kolbe Relic Tour January 22-25, 2016. Last weekend’s tour stop sites of St. Wenceslaus and St. Ann were a huge success with many faithful in attendance. This week, our students of Archbishop Curley High School will have the relic on site for veneration and it will again be available to the general public as it is on location at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Roman Catholic Church, (February 5-12) before moving onto the next weekend to St. Clement Mary Hofbauer Church, (February 13-15).
While at St. Elizabeth of Hungary (Baltimore-MD), veneration opportunities are plentiful and all are encouraged to join the parishioners and Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. David Kashen, OFM Conv. throughout the week. Saturday, February 6th: 4:00 p.m. Mass Sunday, February 7th: 10:00 a.m. Mass
St. Elizabeth of Hungary, 2700 E. Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD 21224
~and~ Monday – Friday, February 8-12th: 8:00 a.m. Mass Veneration, Prayer, Meditation, and Private Reflection until 2:00 p.m.
Friary Chapel, 2638 E. Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD 21224 (right across the street from church)
If you have any questions about veneration at this location, please call their parish office at (410) 675-8260.
During the Prayer Service for the Students, Faculty and Staff of Archbishop Curley High School, led by the school’s president, Fr. Donald Grzymski, OFM Conv.
Relic Veneration Display at Archbishop Curley High School
Franciscans Honor Saint of Auschwitz with Relic Tour Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of St. Maximilian Kolbe’s
martyrdom, Friars proclaim legacy of this modern saint.
To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Maximilian Kolbe (a friar of our Order of Friars Minor Conventual who died in the World War II concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland) our friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province have sponsored a pilgrimage of St. Maximilian’s relics (consisting of fragments of his beard). This is the largest tour of St. Maximilian Kolbe relics in the United States. It began on January 15, 2016 with an Opening Mass celebrated by our Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv., followed by veneration, held the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City, Maryland. The tour will include 38 ministry sites along the East Coast of the United States and Canada. The pilgrimage of St. Maximilian’s relics will return to our Ellicott City, MD ministry at the Shrine of St. Anthony for a concluding Closing Ceremony, on St. Maximilian’s feast day, August 14th.
The Baltimore – MD area was hit hard by Winter Storm Jonas majorly effecting the 1st parish (St. Casimir) stop of the Kolbe Relic Tour January 22-25, 2016. Luckily for the Baltimore faithful, the St. Maximilian Kolbe Relic will remain in downtown Baltimore this weekend as it comes to St. Wenceslaus Roman Catholic Church (2111 Ashland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21205). This beautiful church (established by Bohemian Catholic immigrants in 1872 and built in 1914) is “twinned” with St. Ann’s Catholic Church (cornerstone laid in 1873 – built 1874), under the pastoral leadership of Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Timothy Dore, OFM Conv. They will hold a special 7:00 p.m. Welcoming Mass at St. Wenceslaus Church on Friday, January 29, 2016. All are encouraged to attend. The relic will also be available for veneration at the Sunday, January 31st 8:00 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. Masses at St. Wenceslaus, as well as the Sunday, January 31st 9:45 a.m. Mass at St. Ann (528 East 22nd Street Baltimore, MD 21218)
The Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity joined in the Friday evening welcome of the “Pilgrim Relic” of St. Maximilian Kolbe, OFM Conv., to St. Wenceslaus.
A few parishioners from St. Wenceslaus at the veneration of the relic, after Sunday Morning Mass.
Fr. Timothy Dore, OFM Conv. pictured holding the St. Maximilian Kolbe Relic with some of the parishioners of St. Anne (Baltimore-MD) after the Sunday morning Mass
During the January 2016 meeting of our Minister General with the world’s Minister Provincials in Assisi, Minister Provincial of Our Lady of the Angels Province, Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv., was photographed in the grotto of the garden of the Sacro Convento with the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes that was blessed by St. Maximilian Kolbe in 1933.
On September 6, 1933 (three months prior to the December 3rd official canonization of Saint Bernadette, by Pope Pius XI), St. Maximilian Kolbe stopped in Assisi on his way back to his missionary work in Japan. Friar Bonaventure M. Moariu, OFM Conv., the Master of Novices at the time, invited him to bless a statue placed in the grotto in the garden of the Sacro Convento (Sacred Convent) of the Basilica di San Francesco d’Assisi (Papal Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi), home to the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi. According to a document in the archives of the Sacro Convento, St. Maximilian’s ceremony began with the chanting of O Gloriosa Virginum then his blessing of the statue that he then placed in the grotto while Tota Pulchra was being chanted. After the blessing, St. Maximilian was a presenter at a conference there about the Blessed Mother. At the end of this event, È l’ora che pia and Ave, Ave, Ave Maria! were sung. There are many such grottoes around the world commemorating the eighteen apparitions of the Virgin Mary (who identified herself: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” 1858) in the grotto of Massabiele, Lourdes, as seen by St. Bernadette Soubirous (Feast Day April 16). In 1862, The Apparitions in Lourdes were considered as authentic. Since 1858 there have been approximately 7000 cases of unexplained cures and 69 cases that have been recognised as miraculous by the Church.
To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv., our province has sponsored a pilgrimage tour of 1st degree relics (fragments of his beard). This is the largest tour of St. Maximilian Kolbe relics in North America and will span the entire East Coast territory of the province. The relics have been in North Carolina since the end of February and will next visit St. Julia Catholic Church in Siler City (March 11th-13th). The Polish Community will be celebrating Mass on Sunday, March 13th at 2:00 p.m. Lenten Lamentations (traditional Lenten service) will be chanted at 1:30 pm in the church and the Mass will be followed by the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
