Paper short abstract:

This paper examines St. Maximilian Kolbe’s publishing activities prior to his arrest and ultimate martyrdom. Through the implementation of modern twists on “old technologies,” Kolbe established the most prolific publishing house in Poland and the largest Franciscan monastery in the world.

Paper long abstract:

One of the best-known Christian martyrs of the twentieth century is St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, OFM Conv (1894-1941). His offer of himself in the place of another man who had been selected to die in the starvation bunker at Auschwitz is often recalled as an illustration of the power of love over evil. Less attention is accorded to Kolbe’s work as a publisher and guardian before his incarceration. Kolbe’s extensive publishing projects sought to promote devotion to the Virgin Mary under her title of the Immaculate Conception. Kolbe used modern twists on “old technologies” in dramatically effective ways. In 1921, he began to publish Rycerz Niepokalanej (Knight of the Immaculata) with an initial print run of 5,000 copies – a number that grew to a million by the end of 1938. The earliest issues of Rycerz Niepokalanej were produced by a commercial printer in Kraków, but Kolbe soon set his mind to acquiring his own press to cut costs. Within a year, he purchased a second-hand press and installed it in a monastery at Grodno. As subscriptions and circulation increased, he invested in new and more sophisticated machinery and moved the operations to a friary that he established at Niepokalanów. Kolbe’s enterprise quickly became the largest publishing house in Poland. He also began a similar publishing effort associated with his mission in Japan. The rapidity and degree to which these efforts bore fruit on a grassroots level were very unusual. This paper will explore some of Kolbe’s visionary uses of technology in his evangelizing efforts.