St. Maximilian Kolbe's feast day is August 14th.
St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894–1941) was a Polish Franciscan priest known for his deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and his heroic sacrifice during World War II. A brilliant and zealous evangelizer, he founded the Militia Immaculatae (“Army of the Immaculate One”) to promote consecration to Mary and spread the Catholic faith through modern means such as printing presses and radio. He established a large monastery in Niepokalanów, Poland, which became a center for evangelization and charity.
During the Nazi occupation of Poland, Fr. Kolbe was arrested and eventually sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. In July 1941, after a prisoner escaped, the Nazis chose ten men to be starved to death in punishment. One of the men cried out for his wife and children, and Fr. Kolbe stepped forward to take his place. He comforted and prayed with the other prisoners in the starvation bunker until, after two weeks without food or water, he was killed by lethal injection on August 14, 1941.
He was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1982 and is honored as a martyr of charity. His feast day is celebrated on August 14, the day before the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, a fitting date for a man who gave his life out of love, under the mantle of the Mother of God.
Among other things, St. Maximilian Kolbe is considered a patron saint of those struggling with addiction, especially to drugs and alcohol, because of his powerful witness to freedom in Christ, self-sacrifice, and spiritual strength in the face of extreme suffering, and the fact that he was put to death by a lethal drug (carbolic acid).
There are a few key reasons for this connection:
1. Ministry to Alcoholics Before WWII
Before his arrest, Fr. Kolbe’s missionary outreach often included working with men who suffered from alcoholism. He encouraged them to turn to the Blessed Virgin Mary for help and to entrust their struggles to her Immaculate Heart, believing she would lead them to healing through her Son.
2. Champion of Inner Freedom
Addiction enslaves the mind and body, but Kolbe’s life—especially in Auschwitz—was a testimony to true inner freedom. Even in the most inhumane conditions, he remained spiritually free: calm, prayerful, and full of hope. This example resonates deeply with those in recovery, who seek liberation from the chains of substance dependence.
3. Dying for Another
In the starvation bunker, Kolbe gave up his own life for another man, willingly accepting suffering to save someone else. Many in addiction recovery see parallels here; breaking free often requires sacrificial love, courage, and reliance on God’s grace.
Let us ask St. Maximilian Kolbe to intercede for those struggling with addiction of all kinds:
Prayer to St. Maximilian Kolbe for healing:
O St. Maximilian Kolbe, faithful follower of St. Francis, inflamed by the love of God you dedicated your life to the practice of virtue and to works of the apostolate. Look down with favor upon us who devoutly confide in your intercession. Having consecrated yourself to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, you inspired countless souls to a holy life and various forms of the apostolate in order to do good to others and to spread the kingdom of God. Obtain for us the grace by our lives and labors to draw many souls to Christ.
In your close conformity to our Divine Savior you reached such an intense degree of love that you offered your life to save a fellow prisoner. Implore God that we, inflamed by such ardent charity, may through our living faith and our apostolic works witness Christ to others, and thus merit to join you in the blessed vision of God
Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe, your life of love and labor for souls was sacrificed amid the horrors of a concentration camp and hastened to its end by an injection of a deadly drug.
Look with compassion upon all those who are now entrapped in addictions to drugs, alcohol, and other harmful behaviors and whom we now recommend to your powerful intercession:
[Silently remember all who are in need of healing from addictions and those who have entrusted themselves to the novena]
Dear St. Maximilian, Priest of God, intercede with Christ for mercy for all who are trapped in the bonds of any addiction. Devout servant of the Immaculate Mother of God, beg Her to crush with her heel the demons of addiction that afflicts our brothers and sisters. Obtain for us the grace never to withhold our love and understanding, not to fail in persevering prayer that the enslaving bonds of addiction may be broken and that full health and freedom may be restored to all for whom we pray. AMEN
