In the now-famous vision of his youth, St. Maximilian was offered two crowns by Our Lady: the white crown of a life of heroic virtue, and the red crown of martyrdom. He was rewarded with these two crowns for a life totally spent for the Immaculate. By divine Providence, the Church has seen fit to confirm this gift given to a Saint whose love knew no bounds.
St. Maximilian Kolbe is an ideal model for the contemporary age. Friar, priest, missionary and martyr, he was proclaimed the “patron saint of our difficult [20th] century” by Bl. John Paul II. At a time when vocations to the religious life and the missionary drive seemed to be beating a retreat, Fr. Kolbe proposed to “march forward” by means of total consecration to the Immaculate. This was, for him, the solution to the evils of our day. As such, he anticipated the realization of the promise made by Our Lady of Fatima:
My Immaculate Heart will triumph .
