March 11, 2018

‘Maximilian: Saint of Auschwitz’ performed at Our Lady of the Cross

REGIONAL
Story and photos by Stephen Kiltonic

HOLYOKE – On Friday, March 9 at 7 p.m., Our Lady of the Cross Church was the setting for the dramatic one-man play about the life of St. Maximilian Kolbe.

In “Maximilian: Saint of Auschwitz,” Leonardo Defilippis of St. Luke Productions gave a tour-de-force performance as the heroic Polish priest who voluntarily gave up his life for a fellow inmate, a family man, at Auschwitz, the concentration camp where hundreds of thousands perished during World War II.

In the performance, Defilippis switches seamlessly between characters from Maximilian Kolbe to a Nazi soldier to a Freemason and to a fellow Franciscan priest who tells Kolbe’s life story all the while alternating between good and evil. The multi-media set included one red and one white crown projected on screens. The crowns were on each side of a large canvas image icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Kolbe in a vision offering him a crown of purity or a crown of martyrdom. Kolbe chose both. This experience instilled in him a deep and abiding love for Our Lady. After Kolbe joined the Franciscan order, he later organized the “Knights of the Immaculate,” publishing a magazine and actively promoting the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

A breath-taking musical score and historical newsreels of Nazi Germany brought the play alive for the large crowd which filled nearly half the sanctuary. Also attending was  Conventual Franciscan Father James McCurry, who helped Defilippis write the original “Maximilian” script.

Defilippis, who founded St. Luke Productions in 1980, first performed “Maximilian” at the 1993 World Youth Day in Denver. He first became aware of  Kolbe after reading a book on his life and was fascinated by it. Two men from the Militia Immaculate encouraged him to do a show for the 100th anniversary of Kolbe’s birth.

“I didn’t know how to do it and what I should do, but eventually I felt a tug from God that I was supposed to do his life and so I took a risk,” said Defilippis.

In the 25 years since then, Defilippis estimates he has performed the role of “Maximilian” 500 to 600 times.

“I’m not as long as Yul Brynner doing ‘The King and I,’” said Defilippis. “But, I definitely set up and take it down more than Yul Brynner, that’s for sure.”

Defilippis hopes that through his portrayal of the Franciscan priest, people feel Maximilian’s presence, that “you’re actually meeting him physically.”

“This is a very timely and relevant story for today even though it’s World War II, we’re still dealing with the same issues of violence, of confrontation between nations, the lack of dignity of the human person where we’re actually morally corrupt,” said Defilippis.

“This is a real story. It’s not about ancient history. Many of our grandparents have taken the brunt of this violence, this hatred against certain peoples. Unfortunately, those things are still continuing in many different countries in the Middle East, Africa and other places,” added Defilippis, who said the play also reflects on the dangers we face in the current attack on religious freedom.

Over the past 25 years, Defilippis has traveled the globe playing “Maximilian” in a variety of venues even before Mother Angelica. St. Teresa of Calcutta gave her personal blessing on the show. He has performed for survivors of Auschwitz who knew Kolbe, for seminarians who were with him in Rome, and for soldiers who were in the Nazi army. Defilippis said, at times, many of those in the audience are brought to tears during a performance.

“It’s very moving to them. They’ll cry and it’ll bring back memories of what happened to their sisters, their mothers, their fathers. All the different slavery forms that happened at executions and then on the enemy side, it brings back the misguided ideology of Hitler.”

In 1982, 41 years after St. Maximilian Kolbe’s death in 1941 by lethal injection, St. John Paul II canonized St. Maximilian calling him “the saint of our difficult century” and a “martyr of charity.”

Defilippis, an acclaimed actor and producer, directed the feature film “Therese” and performed in a variety of other live touring St. Luke Productions including: “The Passion According to St. Luke”; “Tolton: From Slave to Priest”; “Faustina: Messenger of Divine Mercy”; and “Vianney.”

“We’re trying to create a movement, particularly in the theatrical realm, so that people can actually witness the saints live in the theater, in their church, community, for different denominations,” said Defilippis.

“Some of them, after I perform, they really think I’m a priest. They kiss my hand and they ask me, ‘Can you hear my confession?’ because they’re so enraptured in the story. It’s fascinating to me, but always keep in mind that I’m a saint for an hour-and-a-half and then I’m a plain old sinner again,” he added.

A video version of this story will be featured in an upcoming edition of “Real to Reel,” the Diocese of Springfield’s weekly television newsmagazine that airs Saturday evenings at 7pm
on WWLP-22 NEWS