It is the feast of St Maximilian Kolbe (above), who died today in 1941 in Auschwitz. Kolbe, a Franciscan priest, was a prisoner in Block 14, where he led prayers and heard confessions. At the end of a day of forced labour, it was discovered that a prisoner from Block 14 had escaped. The next day, the camp commandant personally selected 10 prisoners to go to the starvation bunker to die. One of them, Francis Gajowniczek, cried out, ‘My poor wife, my poor children. Goodbye, goodbye!’ Kolbe stepped out of the ranks, approached the commandant, and offered himself in Gajowniczek‘s place. He was sealed with the rest in the darkness of the bunker, without food or water, and died some 10 days later. In 1982, he was made a saint by Pope John Paul II, and the man he saved, Francis Gajowniczek, was present to witness to the love and sacrifice of Maximilian Kolbe.
The Unitarian hymn writer, actor, and advocate for women and the working class, Sarah Flower Adams, died today in Harlow, Essex, in 1848, at the age of 43. Her most famous and enduring hymn is ‘Nearer My God to Thee’, which was played by the band of the Titanic as the ship sank in April 1912.
Though like the wanderer,
The sun gone down,
Darkness be over me,
My rest a stone;
Yet in my dreams I’d be
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
Sarah Flower Adams
William Croft, the English composer and organist of Westminster Abbey, died today in 1727. His most famous musical work is the ‘Funeral Sentences’, a collection of verses from the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer which are sung by a choir as the coffin is carried into church. The work has been sung at the funerals of Nelson, Churchill, Princess Diana, and Queen Elizabeth II.
The Anglican Church performed a theological handbrake turn today in 1930, when its Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops gave a cautious yes to birth control. A decade earlier, the bishops had warned emphatically against contraception and its ‘grave dangers’, but now tentatively opened the door for married couples to decide for themselves. It was the first time a Christian Church had said that birth control could be a moral choice, and it fell like a bombshell on the world Church. Before the end of the year, Pope Pius XI issued his encyclical Casti connubii (‘Of chaste wedlock’), lecturing the ‘subverters of marriage’ on the virtues of chastity between a husband and wife.
‘Where there is clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, the method must be decided on Christian principles. The primary and obvious method is complete abstinence from intercourse (as far as may be necessary) in a life of discipline and self-control lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless in those cases where there is such a clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, and where there is a morally sound reason for avoiding complete abstinence, the Conference agrees that other methods may be used, provided that this is done in the light of the same Christian principles.’ Resolution 15 of the Lambeth Conference, 1930
The patron saint of beer, St Arnold of Soissons, has his feast today. Arnold founded a monastery in Oudenburg, Flanders, in the 11th century and brewed beer which was credited with saving the lives of the locals during an outbreak of cholera. Arnold is one of many patron saints of beer, which is a very popular and convivial saintly occupation.
Image: Unknown author, public domain