A simple “yes” changed the course of history. God entrusted the life of His Son to the care of Mary, and through her, a path was opened for all believers to become her children. For more than three million Catholics around the world, this spiritual belonging takes a concrete form in the Militia of the Immaculata—a movement founded on total consecration to the Virgin Mary.
For Fr. James McCurry, a Franciscan friar and Knight of the Militia of the Immaculata, this devotion is not merely personal. It carries a mission.
As he explains, “You do it not for your own personal sanctification, but to put your relationship with Mary at the service of the world.”
EWTN Vatican correspondent Zofia Czubak met Fr. McCurry at Casa Kolbe in Rome—the former Franciscan college where St. Maximilian Kolbe was formed as a young seminarian and where the roots of this Marian movement were first planted.
A Personal Bond with St. Maximilian Kolbe
For Fr. McCurry, devotion to St. Maximilian Kolbe is not abstract. It is deeply personal, shaped by years of prayer, work, and what he describes as a kind of spiritual “bargain.”
Recalling his time teaching in a challenging inner-city school, he shares: “So, I kind of made a bargain with Maximilian Kolbe while I was teaching a rather wild bunch of students in an all boys intercity high school… I put his painting over my chalk board… knelt down one night at the start of the school year and said, here’s the deal, I’ll work for your canonization, if you keep an eye on all the juvenile delinquents and the young hooligans out in the classroom.”
What followed, he says, was unexpected: “Miraculously, he kept his part of the bargain beautifully. It was a wonderful group of students I taught.”
Faithful to his promise, Fr. McCurry spent over a decade promoting Kolbe’s cause for sainthood. “At that time, I didn’t realize that my part of the bargain would take 11 years to complete… And then in 1982, the announcement was made.”
Witnesses to Sacrifice at Auschwitz
Fr. McCurry’s connection to St. Maximilian Kolbe also brought him into contact with those who witnessed the saint’s final act of sacrifice at Auschwitz.
He recounts the dramatic moment when Kolbe gave his life for another prisoner: “One of the men chosen was Franciszek Gajowniczek. And he cried out, what will happen to my wife and my family? Maximilian was so deeply moved by this plea… that he then stepped forward and offered… that he would like to substitute himself for that man.”
The story remains one of the most powerful testimonies of Christian charity in modern history—a concrete expression of the Gospel lived to its fullest.
Living the Mission of the Immaculata
The Militia of the Immaculata was born in the very place where Fr. McCurry now stands—where St. Maximilian spent seven years as a seminarian and discerned his Marian vocation.
Reflecting on his own journey, Fr. McCurry explains: “So I joined the militia in 1971, which was the year of the beatification of St. Maximilian Kolbe… I feel that my whole life as a knight has been colored by the Church raising Maximilian to the altars.”
At its heart, the movement calls for total entrustment to Mary, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, with the aim of bringing others closer to Christ.
A Message for a New Generation
Asked what message he would offer to young people today, Fr. McCurry responds with humility—but also clarity.
“That’s a very profound question. Who am I to order anyone?” he says. Yet he does not hesitate to offer a simple and direct invitation: “But if I were to give one order, I would say, give yourself to Our Lady, the mother of Jesus, and let her use you to make something beautiful for God.”
In a world often marked by uncertainty and noise, the witness of St. Maximilian Kolbe—and those who follow his path—points to a different way: one rooted in trust, sacrifice, and a quiet but powerful “yes.”
Adapted by Jacob Stein. Produced by Alexey Gotovskiy; Camera by Gianluca Gangemi.
