# Click here for a list of atelierLeda's medal necklaces ✼••┈┈┈••✼••┈┈••✼ This is a medal necklace of "Father Kolbe," a modern martyr known as the "Saint of Auschwitz" and the patron saint of journalists and families☆*. † St. Maximilian Kolbe † Father Kolbe was born into a devout Catholic family in Poland. He entered the Franciscan Order at the age of 13 and was ordained a priest at 25. However, he was physically weak and, while holding a teaching position, repeatedly had to recuperate. In 1927, he established the Knights of the Immaculate Virgin Mary monastery and focused on missionary work through publishing. In 1930, he came to Japan and established a similar organization in Nagasaki. After returning to Poland in 1937, he served as the superior of the Niepokalanów monastery, but he was arrested after the outbreak of World War II for publishing criticisms of the Nazis. He was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and in August 1941, after an escapee, 10 people were randomly selected to be executed by starvation. However, he volunteered to take the place of a sergeant with a family and was put in the starvation cell. Father Kolbe remained steadfast in the death cell, encouraging and praying with the other prisoners. He survived for two weeks before being executed by a lethal injection. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1982. Also, when Father Kolbe was 12 years old, the Virgin Mary appeared holding two crowns, one white and one red, signifying purity and martyrdom, respectively. When she asked the young Kolbe which crown he would accept, he said he wanted both, and it is said that he understood that he would offer his life to God through martyrdom. "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." (John 15:13) Born: January 8, 1894 - August 14, 1941 Patronage: Journalists / Political prisoners / Drug addicts / Families Feast Day: August 14 ✼••┈┈┈••✼••┈┈••✼ 《Medal》 Father Kolbe 20 x 15mm 《Cross》 Jesus Christ 10 x 12mm 《Size》 40cm + 5cm adjuster atelier †Leda†