Mission Immaculata celebrate patrons' feast day

SANDY — When you let God’s will be done in your life, you have to be prepared to go where ever he leads you.

Father Kolbe Missionary of the Militia Immaculata Ann O’Donnell did just that. Before the general directress told her where she was going to be sent, she told her sit down. O’Donnell was sent to Auschwitz, Germany, for nine years. She became a missionary in 1982, 15 years before she left for Auschwitz in 1997. Fr. Kolbe missionaries are totally consecrated to God with the perpetual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

O’Donnell came to Utah to visit the Militia Immaculata Kolbe Center in Sandy under the direction of John and Donna Masek. The Maseks became Volunteers of the Institute of the Father Kolbe Missionaries of the Immaculata June 26, 2005, at Blessed Sacrament Parish where they are members. There are Fr. Kolbe missionaries in the United States, Italy, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Luxembourg, and Poland, and 30 volunteers throughout those countries.

The Militia Immaculata held a week long celebration at Blessed Sacrament Parish in honor of St. Maximilian Kolbe whose feast day is Aug. 14. O’Donnell shared her experience Aug. 16, at Blessed Sacrament Parish.

O’Donnell said Fr. Kolbe was an unselfish man who never thought of himself. He never complained, even when he was a prisoner in Auschwitz.

Kolbe was born Raymond Kolbe in 1894, in Lodz, Poland. A devotion to Mary has always been a vital part of Polish culture. As a boy Kolbe, too, got into trouble, so much so his mother asked him what would become of him. This bothered the young Kolbe, who turned to the Mother of God for help. Mary appeared to him holding two crowns, one white, for purity, the other red for martyrdom. She asked him if he would like one of them. He chose both.

Kolbe became a Franciscan friar in 1910 taking the name Maximilian. In 1917, Kolbe founded the Militia Immaculata as a vehicle of all his future conquests for Our Lady. He was ordained in 1919. He built a friary just west of Warsaw, which eventually housed 762 Franciscans, and printed 11 periodicals, one with a circulation of more than one million, and a daily newspaper. In 1930, he went to Asia, where he founded friaries in Nagasaki and India. In 1936, he was called to supervise the friary near Warsaw.

O’Donnell said, when Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Fr. Kolbe knew the friary would be seized, and sent most of the friars home. He was imprisoned briefly and then released, and returned to the friary where he and other friars began to organize a shelter for 3,000 Polish refugees, among whom were 2,000 Jews. The community came under suspicion and in May 1941, was closed. Fr. Kolbe and four companions were taken to Auschwitz as prisoners.

Fr. Kolbe carried on his priestly work surreptitiously, hearing confessions in unlikely places and celebrating the Eucharist. He pleaded with his fellow prisoners to forgive their persecutors and to overcome evil with good.

To discourage escapes, the camp had a rule that if a man escaped, 10 men would be killed in retaliation. In July 1941, a man from Fr. Kolbe’s bunker escaped. The 10 were selected including Franciszek Gajowniczek, who was imprisoned for helping the Polish Resistance. Gajowniczek cried out in anguish, "My poor wife and children."

"Fr. Kolbe said he was a Catholic priest from Poland, and would like to take Gajowniczek’s place because he has a family," said O’Donnell. "He was put in a starvation cell for three weeks, but did not die. He knew Our Lady was taking care of him, and evil could not conquer him. He looked at the guards with love. Kolbe was finally given a lethal carbonic acid injection and died August 14, 1941.

"His tiny cell has become a sanctuary, and every Aug. 14, Mass is celebrated there," said O’Donnell. "He is truly heroic.

"Poland has continually been overtaken by other countries, so much so the Polish people say the real and true Poland is in their hearts because the boundaries have continually changed.

"Fr. Kolbe’s spirituality teaches us to not to run away from difficulties or hard situations," said O’Donnell. "We should accept these situations and know they will help us become a stronger person."

O’Donnell said the Polish people loved Pope John Paul II. He lifted them out of obscurity, put them before the world making them a part of society. When Pope John Paul visited Auschwitz, he prayed in Fr. Kolbe’s cell.

"I could see the prison camp from where I lived, and I really began to respect the Polish people. The young people do not want to talk about the camps where 1.5 million people died," said O’Donnell. "Today the camps are museums and people come from all over the world to see them. There are three things people want to do when they visit the camp. They want to light a candle which is light in the darkness, they want to leave flowers, which is light and color not found at Auschwitz, and they want to pray no matter what religion. Every priest that comes wants to celebrate Mass there because it is Christ who forgives and takes on our suffering. The train tracks there are horror for many, so they challenge everyone to walk on them because they are walking out free.

"My nine years in Poland was like a desert experience and very contemplative," said O’Donnell. "Everything was taken away from me – my family, my culture, my language, my food, and my way of expressing myself. I had to die to myself to welcome another way of living, thinking, and acting. Our history marks us and these people are marked by an unbelievable history. It is expressed in everything – their homes, the way they live, talk, and relate to other people. They do not have everything like we do in America. Because I did not know the language, for three years I had to live in silence. I asked God for a lot of help. It was a healthy experience both physically and spiritually, and it was a fascinating experience. I was happy not to have everything."