(LifeSiteNews) — What were the final days in a Nazi concentration camp like for St. Maximilian Kolbe, the intrepid priest who volunteered himself for a starvation bunker to save a fellow inmate?
Triumph of the Heart, coming to theaters September 12, explores this crucible for Kolbe and his nine fellow prisoners in a feature written, directed, and acted with a finesse that elevates it leagues above a stock Christian film.
The film achieves a miracle that echoes the miracle of St. Kolbe himself. It confronts the viewer with his worst fears — suffering and death — and gives him hope that these can be endured and even embraced with serenity, by the grace of God.
In fact, it was this power of the suffering of St. Kolbe that attracted Anthony D’Ambrosio, the film’s writer, director, and producer, to his story in the first place.
Having grown up a devoted Catholic who went to seminary and was active in the pro-life movement, D’Ambrosio lost his faith in God when he was stricken with a hellish illness that he describes as like “being on a bad shroom trip all the time,” combined with severe insomnia, since he only slept two hours a night.
It was during his illness that he learned about the life and death of St. Kolbe. D’Ambrosio told human rights activist Jason Jones that when he discovered how St. Kolbe eventually was executed in a bunker along with three other men who survived two weeks of starvation it “haunted” him.
“I would wake up every night with nightmares and a panic attack, and immediately, I started to begin to imagine what it would be like to be in that cell with Kolbe, with a saint,” D’Ambrosio said.
“And even though I didn’t believe in God or really in anything at the time, there was something about his witness and love that helped to sort of restore my belief in humanity and belief in love, and then ultimately my hope in a higher power. It began to be restored as I meditated on the story.”
D’Ambrosio began to write about St. Kolbe’s story, and his health was restored enough for him to “function.” He embraced the Catholic faith again a few years later, and he eventually submitted a proof-of-concept for the film about St. Kolbe to the Diocese of Dallas.
Fast-forward to today and D’Ambrosio has produced a film that radiates the light and holiness of St. Kolbe, with the effect that the viewer almost feels as if he is getting to know the saint himself.
Find a showing of ‘Triumph of the Heart’ near you.
Speaking about his hopes and desire for the film’s impact, D’Ambrosio recently told Father Patrick Mary Briscoe, “I think that everyone has things they’re not willing to trust God within their lives. And I think that this movie has a really profound potential to very gently, with the complete compassion that Kolbe had for the other men that he was in the cell with, to remove that barrier and to touch that wound and to communicate God’s love to that place.”
On October 16, 1917, not long before he was ordained a priest, St. Maximilian Kolbe founded the Militia of the Immaculata (Army of the Immaculate One), an organization devoted to the conversion of sinners, opposition to freemasonry, the spread of the Miraculous Medal, and to encouraging consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In 1922, he founded a publication called “Knight of the Immaculate” to “fight religious apathy;” At its height, he printed 750,000 copies a month.
About two decades later, due to his publications, which were considered “anti-Nazi,” St. Kolbe was imprisoned in 1941. After being transferred to Auschwitz, an inmate disappeared and the Nazis sought to retaliate by selecting 10 men to face death by starvation to deter future escapes. When Franciszek Gajowniczek was selected, he cried out that he had a wife and children, pleading that his life be spared. St. Kolbe offered to take his place.
A Polish man assigned to work in the building had eyewitness testimony of the final days of Father Kolbe and his fellow prisoners:
“In the cell of the poor wretches there were daily loud prayers, the rosary and singing, in which prisoners from neighbouring cells also joined. When no SS men were in the Block I went to the Bunker to talk to the men and comfort them … I had the impression I was in a church. Fr. Kolbe was leading and the prisoners responded in unison. They were often so deep in prayer that they did not even hear that inspecting SS men had descended to the Bunker; and the voices fell silent only at the loud yelling of their visitors. When the cells were opened the poor wretches cried loudly and begged for a piece of bread and for water, which they did not receive, however. If any of the stronger ones approached the door he was immediately kicked in the stomach by the SS men, so that falling backwards on the cement floor he was instantly killed; or he was shot to death.
“ … Fr. Kolbe bore up bravely, he did not beg and did not complain but raised the spirits of the others …. Since they had grown very weak, prayers were now only whispered. At every inspection, when almost all the others were now lying on the floor, Fr. Kolbe was seen kneeling or standing in the centre as he looked cheerfully in the face of the SS men. Two weeks passed in this way. Meanwhile one after another they died, until only Fr. Kolbe was left.
“This the authorities felt was too long; the cell was needed for new victims. So one day they brought in the head of the sick quarters, a German, a common criminal named Bock, who gave Fr Kolbe an injection of carbolic acid in the vein of his left arm. Fr. Kolbe, with a prayer on his lips, himself gave his arm to the executioner. Unable to watch this I left under the pretext of work to be done. Immediately after the SS men with the executioner had left I returned to the cell, where I found Fr Kolbe leaning in a sitting position against the back wall with his eyes open and his head drooping sideways. His face was calm and radiant.”
