Sanctuary in Niepokalanów and St Maksymilian Kolbe

The very name Niepokalanów means “Town of the Immaculate Virgin”. The name was originally borne by the Franciscan monastery, and now also Marian sanctuary, sited some 40 km west of Warsaw.

The monastery was founded by Father Maksymilian Kolbe in 1927. His intention was to establish an evangelical centre focused on the spiritual and religious revival of the Polish nation, which had so very recently regained its independence after over 120 years of bondage. Within a few years the number of monks in the monastery had increased from 18 to 650, making Niepokalanów the largest Catholic religious house in the world.

In their evangelising work the brothers made use of the very latest in modern printing technologies, which enabled them to publish vast quantities of catechism and devotional matter, above all the monthly magazine “Knight of the Immaculate Virgin” ("Rycerz Niepokalanej"), which had a print run of 800.000 copies.

Towering over the monastery complex is the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, whose foundation stone was laid by Fr Kolbe himself, though it was not actually erected until after World War II. Pope John Paul II later raised it to the rank of basilica minor.

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