The Process of Beatification and Canonization of Maximilian Maria Kolbe
The Process of Beatification and Canonization of Maximilian Maria Kolbe

Summary/Abstract: The glory of holiness that Maximilian Maria Kolbe enjoyed while still alive remained alive after his heroic death, and even grew and enlarged, also through the extraordinary favors received through his intercession. The Franciscan Order therefore decided to begin the canonical process of his beatification. Canonical research was carried out in the Padua Curia in 1948 – 1952, and auxiliary research in Warsaw and Nagasaki in 1948 – 1951, to finally besent to the Congregation of Holy Rites in Rome. On May 12, 1955, a decree was issued on the reviewed and researched writings attributed to the Servant of God Maximilian Maria Kolbe. In the meantime, numerous letters of postulation were sent to the Holy See from cardinals, archbishops and bishops, superiors of orders from almost all over the world, with a request to start the beatification process. They ended with a solemn beatification in the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome on October 17, 1971, presided over by Pope Paul VI. About 150,000 people attended the ceremony, including about 6,000 Poles. The official Polish delegation was headed by Card. Stefan Wyszyński – the Primate of Poland. Father Kolbe’s canonization took place eleven years later, on October 10, 1982. The canonization mass in St. Peter inRome was presided over by the Polish Pope John Paul II.

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