Virtue and martyrdom – two crowns of the ultimate order

When St. Maximilian Kolbe was a young boy, the Blessed Mother appeared to him and offered him a choice of two crowns: a white crown, symbolizing a life of heroic virtue, and a red crown, symbolizing martyrdom for his faith. He chose both. Two Crowns, a new film that enjoyed a limited release and is now available through on-demand streaming services, reveals how Kolbe’s choice played out through his extraordinary life.

We know of Fr. Kolbe, a Conventual Franciscan friar, primarily because of what happened at the Auschwitz concentration camp in late July 1941. After one prisoner had escaped from the camp, the Nazis rounded up 10 prisoners to die in a starvation bunker in reprisal. When one man who was selected cried out “My wife! My children!” Fr. Kolbe stepped forward and volunteered to take his place. Once in the bunker and deprived of food and water, the diminutive priest led the condemned men in prayer and kept up their spirits. He would be the last to die, finished off with an injection of carbolic acid.

Yet Fr. Kolbe could have been considered a saint even if he had died a natural death. He possessed an intense devotion to Our Lady and a tireless drive to spread devotion to her through his Knights of the Immaculate movement and his apostolate of the print media. He drew as many as 800 friars to his City of the Immaculate in Poland to produce his widely circulating magazine and newspaper, and even established a publishing house in Japan. He carried on despite long odds, hardships, and obstacles that would have frustrated a weaker soul.

Some have questioned whether Fr. Kolbe was a true martyr for the Faith. Pope St. Paul VI, who beatified him, called him a “martyr of love,” but Pope St. John Paul II, who canonized him, said his death makes him like Christ, “the Model of all Martyrs, who gives His own life on the Cross for His brethren.” They were both right.

GERALD KORSON is a Legatus magazine staff writer.