AUGUST 14, 2024 – ST. EUSEBIUS, PRIEST. & ST. MAXIMILLIAN KOLBE

• St. Eusebius (357). Martyr, Priest. (Traditional)
• St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe (1941). Patron of Printers, publishers, drug addiction sufferers, & political prisoners. (Current)
• Vigil of the Assumption. (Traditional)

THE Church celebrates this day the memory of St. Eusebius, who opposed the Arians, at Rome, with so much zeal. He was imprisoned in his room by order of the Emperor Constantius, and sanctified his captivity by constant prayer Another Saint of the same name, a priest and martyr, is commemorated on this day. In the reign of Diocletian and Maximian, before they had published any new edicts against the Christians, Eusebius, a holy priest, a man eminently endowed with the spirit of prayer and all apostolical virtues, suffered death for the faith, probably in Palestine. The Emperor Maximian happening to be in that country, complaint was made to Maxentius, president of the province, that Eusebius distinguished himself by his zeal in invoking and preaching Christ, and the holy man was seized. Maximian was by birth a barbarian, and one of the roughest and most brutal and savage of all me. Yet the undaunted and modest virtue of this stranger, set off by a heavenly grace, struck him with awe. He desired to save the servant of Christ, but, like Pilate, would not give himself any trouble or hazard incurring the displeasure of those whom on all other occasions he despised. Maxentius commanded Eusebius to sacrifice to the gods, and on the Saint refusing, the president condemned him to be beheaded. Eusebius, hearing the sentence pronounced, said aloud, “I thank Your goodness and praise Your power, O Lord Jesus Christ, that, by calling me to the trial of my fidelity, You have treated me as one of Yours.” He, at that instant, heard a voice from heaven, saying to him, “If you had not been found worthy to suffer, you could not be admitted into the court of Christ or to the seats of the just.” Being come to the place of execution, he knelt down, and his head was struck off.

REFLECTION: Let us learn, from the example of the Saints, courage in the service of God. He calls upon us to endure suffering of body and of mind, if it is necessary, to prove our fidelity to Him; and He promises to support us by His strength, His light, and His heavenly consolation.

ST. MAXIMILLIAN KOLBE

St. Maximillian Kolbe was born in Poland in 1894, and baptized under the name Raymond. In 1910, he entered the novitiate of the Conventual Franciscans and was given his religious name Maximillian. He took his final vows in Rome in 1914 and three years later, organized, with six other confreres, the association of the Militsia Immaculata, or The Militia of the Immaculate Virgin Mary. Kolbe never forgot that while here on earth we are members of the Church militant. He was ordained in Rome in 1918 and in 1922 he began publishing the magazine, “Knight of the Immaculate,” first in Polish and later in several other languages. St. Maximillian has been an outstanding promoter of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary through the modern media of writing, radio and, since his day, television.

In 1927, St. Maximillian began building a whole town with property donated by a wealthy nobleman, called the “Town of the Immaculate,” outside of Warsaw. There he began training people with vocations among the laity and prospective Religious and Priests, to become apostles of Mary. The first Marian Missionaries to Japan were trained in the “Town of the Immaculate.”

In 1930, Maximillian opened a Marian publication apostolate in Nagasaki, Japan – one of the two cities in Japan which would later be ravaged by a nuclear bomb during the Second World War. As popes have been saying ever since, God chose His most faithful people as a sacrifice to insure future peace in the world.

In 1939, Maximillian was arrested by the Nazis who had taken over Poland. Two years later, in 1941, he died at the infamous concentration camp Auschwitz. The common practice by the Nazis of randomly selecting prisoners to die claimed a young man with a wife and family. When he cried out for mercy on behalf of his family, Maximillian offered his life in place of the husband and father. The S.S. guards took Kolbe instead and placed him in a cell where he was denied food and water. When the guards came to collect and dispose of the bodies, they found Kolbe was amazingly still alive. In disgust, the guards inoculated him with a deadly poison. He was beatified by Pope Paul VI and canonized by Pope John Paul II.

(from Fr. Hardon, St. Maximillian Kolbe, Apostle of Mary).

WORD OF THE DAY

SPHRAGIS. The term originally used by the Fathers of the Church to identify the sacramental character conferred at baptism, confirmation, and orders. Literally it means a seal or identifying sign and describes the indelible and unlosable assimilation to Christ possessed by one who has the character. One is permanently and unalterably changed, so that nothing one ever does or becomes later on can eradicate this unique relationship to Christ.

Modern Catholic Dictionary, Fr. John Hardon SJ (Get the real one at Eternal Life — don’t accept an abridged or edited version of this masterpiece!)

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