The Eleventh Station Reflection: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

 

Death during the Roman Years of the Young Maximilian[1]

 

It was during the years 1918 - 1920 that the Spanish flu pandemic[2] killed millions on its wake.  These years coincided with the last years spent by the young Maximilian as a student at the International Seraphic College, located at Via San Teodoro and in the Gregorian Pontifical University run by the Society of Jesus.  In these academic institutions he obtained his doctorates in philosophy and theology during his seven-year sojourn (1912-1919) in the Eternal City.

The young Maximilian’s health condition was frail.  In the summer of 1917, he had his first attack of tuberculosis.  He wrote on the 29^th of January 1919 that he had recovered from the sickness.[3]  Before sending him back to his home province he went to the picturesque Ravello of the province of Naples for recuperation and subsequently to what we may call today a health resort in Zakopane, Poland for the same reason.

Besides his ailing condition, he likewise was a witness not to a few deaths during the time of the pandemic.  In fact, his daily notes or the diary entries (my preferred term) record especially his closest confrere’s death.[4]

March 06, 1918 - Card. Serafini, Prefect of the Congregation “de Propaganda Fide,” died during the night.  He was seriously ill, and a few days ago he had commended himself to our prayers…[5]

June 10, 1918 - † The Fr. Rector told me that Fr. Jósef Azbiewicz was buried the other day.[6]

October 20, 1918 - † We have been told of the death of Fr. Antoni Głowiński, which occurred on October 17^th. [sic read: 18^th] [7]

October 29, 1918 (Tues.) - At the college we found few people ill with the Spanish Flu and Br. Antonio Mansi is close to death.

October 31, 1918 - † This morning Br. Antonio Mansi fell asleep in the Lord with a very edifying death.[8]

† In the afternoon I was informed of the death of Fr. Serafino Gregori, caused by the same illness: he had taken over from a parish priest who had died (while he was confessing the sick). [9]

 

January 28, 1919 - † We have been informed of the death of Fr. Ambroży Chrzanowski, from the Spanish Flu.

February 01, 1919 (Sat.) - At 3, Archbishop Msgr. Antonio Maria Graselli died. [10]

March 02, 1919 (Mon.) - Fr. Michenan has died.

March 23, 1919 (Sun.) - In the evening His Eminence Cardinal Cassetta died.[11]

May 27, 1919 (Tues.) - † At quarter past five in the morning, Fr. Emilio Norsa, a convert from Judaism died.  I stayed with him and recited the Franciscan Crown next to his body.  A blessed devotee of the Immaculata.[12]

July 05, 1919 (Sat.) In Ravello I heard of the death of Br. Mansi’s father, caused by smallpox.  His mother is seriously ill and both his sisters are down in bed.  General vaccination.^[13]

               As listed in his 1918 diary within the span of 8 months (March to October) he heard news or witnessed five deaths.  Three of these deaths were directly linked to the Spanish flu.  Among these deaths two were significant for the young Maximilian.  Friars Antoni Głowiński and Antonio Mansi, two among the first seven M.I. members have died within the two-week period.  Like him, both are young - Friar Głowiński was 26 while Friar Antonio was even younger at 22.   Maximilian was 24 years old during this time.

               The year 1919 was even worse.  Within the period of seven months (Jan.-July), our young saint has heard the news of six deaths.  One confrere died from Spanish flu.  The death of Fr. Emilio Norsa[14] was more significant for him, since he, like Marie-Alfonse Ratisbonne is a convert from Judaism and was a blessed devotee of the Immaculata as he noted in this diary.  Moreover, with a certain fondness and pride he remembered him in Rycerz Niepokalanej in 1926 saying:

I will never forget the prayers of a particular Jewish convert, a famous musician of northern Italy, who later became a religious, a Franciscan, Fr. Emilio Norsa.  I met him in Rome he loved the Immaculata much.  During his last illness he always kept on a little table a small prayer card representing the Immaculata and kissed it.  When it was said that in those moments of solitude could be favorable from musical inspiration, he pointed to the picture of the Mother of God hanging on the wall in front of him and said: “That is where my inspiration comes from.”  Well, this ardent devotee of the Immaculata, a Jew, a priest of the Order of Franciscan Fathers…[15]

Kolbean Reflection on Death and Dying Young[16]

It is interesting to note that after he reported the series of deaths, he wrote as a fruit of his meditation on the 6^th of Aug. 1919: Our life is a preparation for death.[17]  And again on the 25^th of September he mentioned: In a little while you will die...[18]  Even at his young age, death has become so real and so close that it has become part of his fragile human existence and to prepare to meet sister death is given here and now.

Reports of death did not stop upon his return to his home province towards the end of July 1919.  He would briefly take note this sort of news and would include the deceased in his Mass intentions.[19]  Remarkably, he faced the morbid situation with great strength and calmness. Here we see a young man who is not afraid to face the future.  As Fra. Giuseppe Simbula rightly observed: Not even death seem greatly to affect the equanimity of young Kolbe… He lived the tragedy of war in a composed awareness of its horrors, but without losing, because of that, his serenity of spirit… All these facts indicate that we are dealing with a young man of great inner poise.[20]

What was his secret?  Even a cursory reading of his writings would give us an unmistakable answer.  His ultimate secret was synthesized in his personal rule of life written during his spiritual exercises in 1920.  He wrote:   

Remember always that you are absolute, unconditional, unlimited, irrevocable possession and property of the Immaculata, whoever you are, whatever you have, or can do, all the “actiones” (thoughts, words, deeds) and the “passiones” (pleasant, unpleasant, or indifferent things) belong entire to her.  Consequently, let her dispose of them according to her (not your) wish.  So also, all your intentions belong to her; therefore, let her transform them... [21]

 

He intended to remind himself with the monthly reading of his personal rule.  In it he begun with the end in mind by saying: I must be a saint, the greatest possible (Rule no. 1).  An integral part of his ardent desire for sanctity and therefore of God’s greatest possible glory (Rule no. 2) is his absolute, unconditional, unlimited, and irrevocable entrustment or if you will consecration to the Immaculata as her possession and property.  Maximilian understood very well that man is created to glorify God and that the purpose of a religious is a greater glory of God.[22]  In the young Kolbe’s holy intuition the shortest, safest, and most secure means to achieving this goal is his radical entrustment to the Immaculata.  Likewise, his love and total entrustment explain his faith-filled attitude towards death.

 Taking into consideration the brand of Marian entrustment that Kolbe proposed and lived even as a young man, we may come to conclude that an early death is never a hindrance to sanctity.  In fact, he was fervently devoted to young women saints who were his contemporaries who died at the prime of their youth - St. Therese of the Child Jesus died at the young age of 24 and St. Gemma Galgani an Italian mystic saint who died at 25.  Furthermore, the death of his young confreres namely the two Anthony’s - Głowiński and Mansi was a providential opportunity for him to put forward more contemporary intercessors of the M.I.[23]  Hence, sanctity is offered to everyone, to young and old alike. He discerned that holiness is not a privilege of the few, but an obligation for all.

The young Kolbe himself was an example to holiness and academic excellence.  Barely two years after his Roman adventure, a fake/false news regarding his death reached the ears of his rector, Fra. Ignudi who give the following appraisal: He was a little angel, a little saint, full of fervor and zeal: one of the most observant, edifying students, and also in his studies one of the best that this College has ever had.[24]

 Lastly, he divided life into three stages: preparatio, actio, conclusio.[25]  His initial formation years which includes his studies were the preparation phase of his life and mission.  The subsequent years were dedicated to action namely: To introduce the Immaculata into the hearts of men, so that she may erect in them a throne of her Son… and inflame them with love toward his Most Sacred Heart.[26]   Inevitably, the conclusion comes with death.

Part of the young Kolbe’s Roman period was a confrontation on the reality of death. He himself may have had a brush with death brought about by bouts of tuberculosis.  Therefore, even the preparation phase was strongly marked with the possible advent of the third phase – death.[27]  He certainly was ready to meet sister death and yet she did not come.  The Immaculata surely has reserved the most splendid death of all - the death of a martyr.  The best gesture as it were to describe a martyr’s death is not that of “beckoning” but an offering, all for the greater glory of the Most Sacred Heart through the maternal hands of the Immaculata. Amen.

 

 

 

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[1] This article is made possible through the publication of the English edition of The Writings of St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe in 2016.  I would like to thank the provincial of Our Lady of the Angels (USA), Friar James McCurry who provided all friaries of the Philippine Custody with two-volume copies.  This piece of work is a fruit of my classes with the young men in formation and my on-going research regarding those challenging and difficult times of the young saint.

[2] The website of the World Health Organization (WHO) has the following information: “2018 marks the 100th anniversary of one of the largest public health crises in modern history, the 1918 influenza pandemic known colloquially as “Spanish flu.”  The intensity and speed with which it struck were almost unimaginable – infecting one-third of the Earth’s population, which at the time was about 500 million people.  By the time it subsided in 1920, tens of millions people are thought to have died.”  (Link was accessed on May 11, 2020: http://origin.who.int/influenza/pandemic-influenza-an-evolving-challenge/en/)

[3] The Writings of St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe 988 A, in: Various Writings, vol. II, Lugano 2016, p.1639. Henceforth, the citation would be: KW, Vol. II, 988 A:1639.   The last two numbers provide the reference entry number and the page number respectively for the English edition.

[4] The bold letters in the entries below are mine.  It is interesting to note that his diary is prefaced with a dedication: To the greatest glory of God through devotion of the Immaculata.

[5] KW, Vol II, 988 A: 1641.

[6] KW, Vol II, 988 B:1645.

[7] KW, Vol II, 988 D:1650.  The M.I. International website contains the following details regarding his death: “Father Antoni Głowiński contracted it (“Spanish flu”) during a visit to the Romanian prisoners.  On the evening of October 11, 1918, he was confined to bed.  After eight days of illness, he died on the feast of St. Luke, on October 18, 1918, at approximately 9:00 pm, at the age of 26.  Thus, in the exercise of his priestly ministry, the first knight and co-founder of M.I. died.  St. Maximilian remembered him with these words: " I will never forget the simplicity, the purity that shone from his face.".  (Link was accessed on May 11, 2020: http://www.mi-international.org/en/kolbe5.html).

[8] KW, Vol II, 988 D:1651.  The M.I. International website says this regarding his death: Like Father Głowiński, he also fell ill with Spanish influenza, contracted while he took care of a fellow Franciscan priest.  (Link was accessed on May 11, 2020: http://www.mi-international.org/en/kolbe5.html)

[9] KW, Vol II, 988 D:1651.

[10] KW, Vol II, 988 E:1653.  The same diary narrates that they visited the archbishop on his sick bed on January 19, 1919.

[11] KW, Vol II, 988 E:1654.

[12] KW, Vol II, 988 F:1656.

[13] KW, Vol II, 988 G:1659.

[14] He died at the age of 46.  It is less likely that he may have died from the contagious and unusually deadly Spanish flu infection even though he looked after his sick confrere, Fra. Antoni Głowiński who died the previous year from the said flu (cf. KW, Vol II, 1328:2312).

[15] KW, Vol. II, 1113:1953.

[16] The Philippine Custody of the Immaculate Conception and Blessed Bonaventure of Potenza, have had our share of friars dying young for one reason or another.  Three of our four deceased died young: Fra. Giuseppe Olayvar died when he was 29. Friars Jose Costuya and Uriel Zuniga both died at the age of 36. May they rest in peace!

[17] KW, Vol. II, 987 H:1628.

[18] KW, Vol. II, 987 H:1629.

[19] KW, Vol. II, 1338:2337-9.

[20] KW, Vol. I, pg. 127.  His biological father may have been among the millions of war casualties.  Some of his confreres were conscripted to the army during the war.

[21] He wrote this when he was only 26 years old.  His rule contained 12 items (cf. KW, Vol. II, 971:1583-84). 

[22] KW, Vol. II, 962:1551.

[23] KW, Vol. II, 1328:3212.

[24] Cronaca del Collegio, vol. II, pg. 21. Cited by Di Fonzo, in ACI, pg. 203.

[25] KW, Vol. II, 971:1583.  Rule of Life Number 09.

[26] KW, Vol. I, 486:1008.

[27] KW, Vol. II, 969:1579-81.  His spiritual exercises in preparation for the priesthood in 1918 may have been on the “Four Last Things” to wit: death, judgment, heaven, and hell.  He jotted down the following sentences: “This may be the last day of your life.  Live as if this day were your last. You could die even today.”