The Saint Maximilian Kolbe Novena

The Saint Maximilian Kolbe Novena is a nine-day Catholic prayer to Saint Maximilian Kolbe, the Polish Franciscan friar canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II on October 10, 1982, fourteen days before his own attempt on John Paul II's life. Saint Maximilian volunteered to die in place of a fellow prisoner at Auschwitz on August 14, 1941, and is venerated as the Martyr of Auschwitz and the Apostle of Marian Consecration.

Origin and historical development

Maximilian Kolbe was born Rajmund Kolbe on January 8, 1894, in Russian-occupied Poland. He entered the Conventual Franciscans at age sixteen, taking the religious name Maximilian Maria. As a student at Rome, he founded the Militia Immaculatae (the Knights of the Immaculata) in 1917, a Catholic association dedicated to total consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary for the conversion of sinners and the sanctification of the faithful.

Saint Maximilian's apostolate combined an extraordinarily prolific publishing enterprise (the magazine Knight of the Immaculate reached over a million subscribers by 1939), missionary work in Japan, and the building of monastic Marian cities at Niepokalanów in Poland and at Nagasaki in Japan.

The novena form, drawing on the Marian themes of his apostolate, is prayed in the days before his feast on August 14.

Structure of the novena

Each day of the novena meditates on one of the nine principal Marian themes of Saint Maximilian's apostolate: total consecration to the Immaculata, the Marian dogma of the Immaculate Conception, the Militia of the Immaculata, the Eucharist as Marian gift, apostolic mission to souls, the interior life of silence and recollection, suffering as Marian offering, self-sacrifice in love, and final perseverance.

When the novena is prayed

The traditional dates of the novena are August 5 through August 13, ending on the eve of Saint Maximilian's feast on August 14, the anniversary of his death at Auschwitz. The novena may also be prayed at any time of year as an introduction to or renewal of personal Marian consecration.

Theological foundation

The novena rests on Saint Maximilian's theological insight that total consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the spirit of Saint Louis de Montfort's True Devotion, is the surest path to union with Christ. The Catholic doctrine underlying this is the Marian dogma of the Immaculate Conception and the universal Catholic teaching on Mary's intercessory role (see Why do Catholics pray to Mary?).

Pairing with other prayers

The novena pairs naturally with the Holy Rosary, with Marian prayers like the Hail Mary, Memorare, and Totus Tuus, and with the Miraculous Medal Novena (Saint Maximilian had a particular devotion to the Miraculous Medal).

Sources

Saint Maximilian's writings are collected in the seven-volume Scritti di Massimiliano Kolbe (Rome, 1997). The novena form is preserved in the Knights of the Immaculata devotional manuals.