On January 27th each year the world gathers to remember the Holocaust and to evolve human consciousness on the pathway of reconciliation, fraternity, oneness…

Sr. Helena Daly of  Northern Province has shared a moving reflection that helps us to connect with the light, even in the darkness night.

This article was first published in the Northern Province Newsletter, Connections in December 2021.

St. Maximilian Kolbe

On 5th September 2021, Archbishop Martin celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Church in Warrenpoint to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Saint Maximilian Kolbe – a Polish priest who faced death in a Nazi extermination camp in Auschwitz in 1941.

It was a momentous occasion with an international flavour – hymns were sung in Irish , English, Polish and Latin. As Patrick Kavanagh maintained, the local can reveal the universal.

After Mass, a spontaneous procession took place, with Archbishop Martin carrying Maximilian Kolbe’s relics from the church along the promenade.

When he arrived at St. Joseph’s Nursing Home, he stopped and blessed the Home, its residents and staff with the relics.

It was a very touching moment as I recalled the many Sisters of Mercy who had lived and worked in St. Joseph’s over the years, as well as those who died there. They could never have dreamed of an event like this taking place in Warrenpoint.

St. Josephs Nursing Home, Warrenpoint

Maximilian Kolbe is the saint who, when ten men were selected to be starved to death after a prisoner escaped from Auschwitz, volunteered to take the place of one of them who cried out in despair as he had a family. What a magnificent,sacrificial gesture!

Having stood outside the one foot square bunker where Maximilian died, it was amazing for me to be following his relics along the shores of Carlingford Lough.

What a small world it is and how everything connects!

Helena Daly rsm
Northern Province