In commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Conventual Franciscan Friar, St. Maximilian Kolbe, Our Lady of the Angels Province has scheduled a pilgrimage of a relic throughout their province U.S. and Canadian territory.
The reliquary being displayed is one of four that was created in 1971 (11 years prior to his canonization – thus marked as B. Max. Kolbe as he was then only elevated to blessed) to hold a portion of his beard that in 1938 was shaved after Friar Maximilian received permission from his Minister Provincial. It contains many symbols from the life of St. Maximilian: the base is in the shape of his birthplace of Poland, covered in the “thorns” of occupation by the Third Reich. Out of those thorns, however, burst forth a lily of purity and a tulip of martyrdom – symbols of love triumphing over hate. The strands of the saint’s beard are housed in a glass case entwined with our Franciscan knotted cord representing his vocation to the Order and their vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.