Maximilian Kolbe

Was a Polish priest who died as prisoner 1670 in Auschwitz, on August 14, 1941. When a prisoner escaped from the camp, the Nazis selected ten others to be killed by starvation in reprisal for the escape.

One of the tenselected to die, Franciszek Gajowniczek, began to cry: "My wife! My children! I will never see them again!" On hearing this, Father Kolbe stepped forward and asked to die in his place - his request was granted.

As the ten condemned men were led off to the death block of Building 13, Father Kolbe supported a fellow prisoner who could hardly walk. No one would emerge alive - Father Kolbe was the last to die.

"God dwells in our midst, in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar."

St Maximiliam Kolbe