A native son of Minneapolis, Father Klesmit first looked upon this world, as did Columbus, on October 12, 1888, and two days later was brought by his god-parents, Joseph Mrozewski and Anna Szewell, to the baptismal font of St. Stanislaus Church in Winona. The death of this father in 1895 left his valiant mother with the entire burden of rearing the five children to the honor and glory of God. How faithfully she carried out her trust was to be attested before the world by the life of one of these children through a span of fifty golden years.

Always attentive to the voice of duty, it is not surprising that as a young boy our Jubilarian heard clearly the call of Christ inviting him to "the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ," the work of building up the life and vigor of the Mystical Body until it reaches the fullness of Christ. After three years of study at St. Mary's College and Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan, and further training under the Resurrection Fathers of St. Stanislaus College in Chicago, the future shepherd of Christ entered St. Paul Seminary in September of 1909. Here God Himself shortened the final years of his preparation. For in 1914, the first Archbishop of St. Paul realized with clear vision the need of priests to minister to the Polish people in their native tongue, especially in the newly organized St. Hedwig parish in Minneapolis, and called the young seminarian to ordination before he had completed his final years of theological studies.

On August 25, 1914, Maximilian Klesmit was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop John J. Lawler and offered his First Holy Mass in his home parish of St. Stanislaus in Winona. Two weeks later he took up his assigned duties as Assistant Pastor in Holy Cross parish and found the realization of the true life of a priest: long hours in the confessional and in the sanctuary channeling God's ministries of grace; hours in the pulpit and at the bedside of the sick enkindling and shielding the flame of faith against the tempests of the world and the forces of evil; visits in the school to teach God's little ones the truths of religion; patient instruction of converts to the faith; the hourly calls to feed Christ's sheep in their hunger for truth and justice. He learned that the yoke of Christ is a heavy one, but sweet in the bearing for the glory fo God and the salvation of souls.

New and heavier responsibilities fell upon the shoulders of the young priest after only a very brief novitiate in the vineyard. On May 29, 1915, Archbishop Ireland appointed Father Maximilian Klesmit the first pastor of the new St. Hedwig parish, the seedling which had been transplanted from Holy Cross parish to fresh ground. Courageously the young pastor faced his challenging tasks in the new field of combat. With the zeal of a missionary he gave his time and energy, his mind and his heart to the nurturing of the spiritual life of his flock, from the oldest to the youngest. No obstacles could shake his trust in God and his determination, neither a disastrous and endless financial problems that beset his path. His Christmas gift to the Babe of Bethlehem in 1919 was a newly erected church-school building. Within another year he had brought here the Sisters of St. Francis from Sylvania, Ohio, to care for the lambs of his flock. For them he erected a suitable convent home, permitting no hardship or sacrifice to deter him in his labors.