Knights of Columbus to sponsor play about St. Maximilian Kolbe

By Sean Gallagher

In January 1945, 70 years ago last month, soldiers of the Soviet Union’s Red Army liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp operated in Poland by Nazi Germany during World War II.

Auschwitz still stands today as the primary symbol of the Holocaust in which millions of Jews were exterminated. It is also the place where a Polish Franciscan priest laid down his life so that another prisoner might live.

That priest, Maximilian Kolbe, was declared a saint in 1982 by St. John Paul II.

He is the subject of a one-man play, Maximilian: Saint of Auschwitz, which will be performed at 7 p.m. on March 3 and 4 at the Knights of Columbus’ McGowan Hall, 1305 N. Delaware St., in Indianapolis. Admission for the play is $15. It is suitable for ages 10 and up, and runs approximately 90 minutes.

St. Maximilian will be portrayed in the play by Leonardo Defilippis, the founder and president of the Battle Ground, Wash.-based Saint Luke Productions, which has produced plays and films about Christ and the saints for 33 years.

The play’s performance in Indianapolis is being sponsored by the Central Indiana Chapter of the Knights of Columbus, which helps coordinate activities among a number of Knights’ councils.

Knights of Columbus Council #437, which operates McGowan Hall, is also assisting in the production of the play.

Robert Newport, events coordinator for the council, said the Knights see the play as an important event for the greater community in central Indiana.

“We are keenly focused on providing programming that champions the highest of virtues,” Newport said, “and Maximilian’s moving story of self-sacrifice, courage and faith in the face of unimaginable cruelty is one that needs to be shared with as many people as possible, Catholic and non-Catholic alike.”

Newport also thinks the play can share the Good News of Christ with a wider audience as it is embodied in the story of St. Maximilian.

“We hope that this presentation of Maximilian: Saint of Auschwitz will remind people of the fact that, while not always visible or readily apparent, their sacrifices and efforts for others in the name of Christ live on,” he said. “We are not living for this world, but for the next. Our desire is that people are consoled by this truth when they are struggling to make sense of an often senseless and chaotic world, and, like Maximilian, have the courage to step out from the ranks and be a soldier for Christ no matter the cost. The message is as important and urgent now as it ever was.”

(To purchase tickets for Maximilian: Saint of Auschwitz, call 317-631-4373, send an e-mail to ranewport@gmail.com or go to www.maximilian.eventbrite.com. Please call in advance for groups of 10 or more. For more information about the play, go to www.StMaxDrama.com.) †