Ruadhán Jones
The Primate of All-Ireland praised St Kolbe as “martyr of love” at a Mass in Warrenpoint, Co. Down, to mark the 80th anniversary of his martyrdom.
In his homily September 5, Archbishop Eamon Martin said the Nazis attempted to take away St Kolbe’s humanity, but “what mattered to Fr Maximilian was not number they tattooed on his arm, but the indelible spiritual mark of priesthood imprinted on the day of his ordination”.
Fr Kolbe saw the “concentration camp could now be his new parish; the prisoners, his flock to shepherd.
“His greatest act of witness and love was the day he stepped forward to offer his life in exchange for that of a fellow inmate, Franciszek Gajowniczek,” the archbishop continued.
After the Mass, Archbishop Martin unveiled a memorial plaque to St Maximilian Kolbe, at an event organised by the Belfast-based Consulate General of the Republic of Poland, the Polish Honorary Consulate and Newry & Mourne Polish Community Group.