St. Maximilian Kolbe is the patron saint of the College. He was born in Poland late in the nineteenth century. His parents named him Raymond. They were poor but they worked hard to give their children a good education, who did not let their parents down.

Raymond worked hard in primary school and eventually joined his older brother in the local Franciscan minor seminary, a secondary school for boys who were considering a life as a member of the Franciscan Order, a religious order founded by St Francis of Assisi in the twelfth century. Raymond completed his secondary schooling and entered religious life in the Franciscan Order. He was given the name Maximilian. His superiors were impressed with his academic ability and provided him with opportunities to continue his studies at university. After ordination, Fr Maximilian gained two doctoral degrees in theology and philosophy.

Fr Maximilian was a person of great faith who valued his relationship with God and spent his adult life as a priest in Poland and Japan. He had a life long devotion to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. In keeping with the spirit of chivalry that is part of the Franciscan ethos, Fr Maximilian formed the Knights of the Immaculata, dedicated to evangelizing the world through prayer and through publishing literature that promoted Christian faith. His organization grew rapidly. It continues today, more than sixty years after his death. Known as MI (the Militia of the Immaculata), it flourishes throughout the world.

The final act of his life of volunteering took place in Auschwitz where he was interned because he had been openly critical of the Nazis. In 1941, he volunteered to take the place of a prisoner who was a father of a young family and who had been condemned to die in reprisal for an escape attempt. Kolbe’s action was one of extraordinary courage and generosity.

Committed to Christ, to seeking truth and to establishing the reign, or Kingdom of God in his world, St. Maximilian Kolbe is a very worthy and inspiring patron of our College. He is an ideal model for those who belong to our school community.

KOLBE DAY 2007

Kolbe Day commenced with a whole school Mass commemorating our Patron Saint, Maximilian Kolbe, led by our parish priests.  It also gave us a chance to farewell Fr Walsh, who has played such a big part in so many of our lives over the past 31 years, with specific warm memories from some of our students.

House photos were taken and then the activities began. Did you dunk Mr McNulty or Mr Dowling?  How good was your psychic ability?  Tabatha Driscoll managed to win herself $50 using hers! And how about those baby photos – who were those cute little people?

The rock band was playing up a storm and the skate park stayed accident free all day. Huge amounts of pizza, chips, ice cream and drinks were consumed, not forgetting the famous “Noburo’s Noodles”, so no one went hungry.

The Staff pantomime was the usual unrehearsed riot with mis-timings and forgotten lines but the laid back performances made it terrific fun for our players as well as our enthusiastic audience.  Once again, it was a credit to our staff and especially the inspired writer, Mr Buckner.

The culmination of the day was the staff versus students soccer match and the winners of the Eg Cup this year were…the Staff, 2-1!  Students had a goal disallowed but had fielded a highly coordinated attack with four teams of players against the enthusiastic staff team.  It was great to see many female players on both teams, which seemed to field more than the requisite number of players at any one moment.  This made finding the ball quite difficult at times (and also the goal if Mr Scali’s high velocity shot, which was about a metre off target, is anything to go by!).

The day was a great success thanks to all the hard work put in by staff, and the comment by a student that “everyone was happy and having a good time” seemed to sum up the terrific atmosphere of the day.  Our Japanese visitors had smiles on their faces and said they had never experienced anything like it at their schools!

The money raised will go to the Catholic charity of choice for each house.