Editing Maximilian Kolbe (section)

==Priesthood==
In 1918, Kolbe was [[Holy Orders|ordained]] a priest.<ref name=ewtn/> In July 1919, he returned to [[Second Polish Republic|Poland, which was newly independent]]. He was active in promoting the veneration of the [[Immaculate Conception|Immaculate]] [[Blessed Virgin Mary|Virgin Mary]]. He was strongly opposed to [[leftist]] – in particular, [[communist]] – movements.<ref name="psb296"/>

From 1919 to 1922, he taught at the Kraków Seminary.<ref name="Patron"/><ref name="psb296"/> Around that time, as well as earlier in Rome, he suffered from [[tuberculosis]], which forced him to take a lengthy leave of absence from his teaching duties. Before antibiotics, tuberculosis was often fatal, with rest and good nutrition the only treatment.<ref name="Patron"/><ref name=ewtn/>

In January 1922, Kolbe founded the monthly periodical ''[[Rycerz Niepokalanej]]'' (''Knight of the Immaculata''), a devotional publication based on the French ''Le Messager du Coeur de Jesus'' (''Messenger of the Heart of Jesus''). From 1922 to 1926, he operated a religious publishing press in [[Grodno]].<ref name="psb296"/> As his activities grew in scope, in 1927 he founded a new Conventual Franciscan monastery at [[Niepokalanów]] near Warsaw. It became a major religious publishing centre.<ref name="Patron"/><ref name="psb296"/><ref name=ewtn/> A junior seminary was opened there two years later.<ref name="Patron"/>

===Missionary work in Asia===
Between 1930 and 1936, Kolbe undertook a series of [[mission (Christian)|missions]] to [[East Asia]]. He arrived first in [[Shanghai]], China, but failed to gather a following there.<ref name="psb296"/> Next he moved to [[Japan]], where by 1931 he had founded a [[Order of Friars Minor Conventual|Franciscan monastery]], ''Mugenzai no Sono'' ({{lang|ja|無原罪の園}}, {{translation|Garden of the Immaculata}}),{{efn|After the friars learned that {{Transliteration|ja|mugenzai}} was a [[homonym]] for "endless sin," the monastery's name was later changed to {{lang|ja|Seibo no Kishi}} ({{translation|Knights of the Blessed Mother}}).<ref name=Doak />}} on the outskirts of [[Nagasaki]].<ref name=Doak>{{cite web | last=Doak | first=Kevin | title=St. Maximilian Kolbe in Japan | website=Benedict XVI Institute | date=31 July 2021 | url=https://benedictinstitute.org/2021/07/st-maximilian-kolbe-in-japan/ | access-date=3 April 2025}}</ref> Because of its location within the hills outlying the city, the monastery was spared from destruction during the United States' [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|atomic bombing of Nagasaki]].<ref name="guardian"/><ref name=Doak />

Kolbe was persuaded to work in Japan by a group of Japanese students he encountered in Europe, who lamented the need for missionaries in their home country. After arriving in Japan, Kolbe acquired some facility in the local language, including basic literacy;<ref name=Doak /> the monastery soon began publishing a Japanese edition of the ''Knight of the Immaculata''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dewar |first=Diana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=39hsAAAAIAAJ |title=Saint of Auschwitz: The Story of Maximilian Kolbe |date=1982 |publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=978-0-06-061901-5 |pages=70 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="psb296"/><ref name=ewtn/>

In mid-1932, Kolbe left Japan for [[Malabar region|Malabar]], India, where he founded another monastery, which has since closed.<ref name="Patron"/>{{self-published source|date=October 2022}}

===Return to Poland===
Meanwhile, in his absence the monastery at Niepokalanów began to publish a daily newspaper ''Mały Dziennik'' (''the Small Diary''), in alliance with the political group [[National Radical Camp (1934)|National Radical Camp]] (''Obóz Narodowo Radykalny'').<ref name="Patron"/><ref name="psb296"/> This publication reached a circulation of 137,000, and nearly double that, 225,000, on weekends.<ref name="Media katolickie w III Rzeczypospolitej (1989–2009)"/> Kolbe returned to Poland in 1933 for a general chapter of the order in [[Kraków]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Elaine Murray Stone|title=Maximilian Kolbe|url=https://archive.org/details/maximiliankolbes00elai|url-access=registration|quote=city mary india kolbe.|publisher=Paulist Press|place=Nueva York|year=1997|page=[https://archive.org/details/maximiliankolbes00elai/page/53 53]|isbn=0-8091-6637-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Francis Mary Kalvelage|title=Kolbe: Saint of the Immaculata|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbruAQAAQBAJ&q=Mugenzai+no+Sono+1931&pg=PA62|pages=62–63|year=2001|publisher=Academy of the Immaculate |isbn=9780898708851}}</ref> Kolbe returned to Japan and remained there until called back to attend the Provincial Chapter in Poland in 1936. There he was appointed guardian of Niepokalanów, thus precluding his return to Japan.<!-- <ref name=|author=Claude R. Foster|title= Mary's Knight>--> Two years later, in 1938, he started a radio station at Niepokalanów, ''Radio Niepokalanów''.<ref name="Patron"/>{{self-published source|date=October 2022}}<ref name="Historia"/> He held an [[amateur radio]] licence, with the call sign SP3RN.<ref name="qrz"/>