This certificate testifies that MARK S. HELGESON
Has been enrolled in the MILITIA IMMACULATA (MI)
AS A KNIGHT AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS
To establish the reign of the SACRED HEART OF JESUS with the
IMMACULATE HEART OF THE VIRGIN MARY
~ December 8, 2015 @ National Shrine of St. Kolbe - Marytown
in Libertyville, Illinois
St.
Maximilian Kolbe
St.
Maximilian Kolbe (1894–1941) was born in Poland to a devout Christian family.
As a boy he had a vision of the Virgin Mary. She showed him two crowns, one
white for virginity and one red for martyrdom, and asked him which he would be
willing to accept. He replied that he would accept both. This began his
lifelong mission of promoting devotion to the Virgin Mary and the Miraculous
Medal. He eventually joined the Franciscans.
While
studying for the priesthood in Rome, he gathered a group of fellow friars and
founded the Militia of the Immaculata which became a crusade of Marian
consecration. From it came the Knights of the Immaculate magazine,
which reached a circulation of 750,000, and a radio show, both of which became
a source of strengthened faith all over Poland. He established a monastery in
Poland which grew to 800, the largest in the world at that time.
In 1930
he traveled to the Far East and founded a monastery in Nagasaki, Japan.
He
returned to Poland in 1936. During World War II, St. Maximilian Kolbe housed
over 3,000 Polish refugees at his monastery.
He was
eventually imprisoned because of his fight for truth through his magazine, and
was sent to Auschwitz in 1941. He endured special cruelty because he was
a Catholic priest. St. Maximilian ministered to the people in the camp and offered
his life in place of a man to be killed by firing squad. After being
starved for two weeks and still found alive, he was killed by lethal
injection on August 14, 1941.
St.
Maximilian Kolbe is the patron of families, drug addicts, prisoners,
journalists, and the pro-life movement.
His feast day is
August 14th.
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