Customer Reviews

Maximilian Kolbe: Saint of Auschwitz

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This book is a substantial biography which, while sold as a middle school book, is most accessible and available and comprehensible to every reader. Please do not be dismayed by its label as juvenile literature, as it truly and deeply covers every aspect of this great modern Saint's life, including his mission to Nagasaki, and is graced with excellent pencil illustrations drawn from the most famous photographs of the Saint, including the one I most dearly remember, his prison photo without glasses in Auschwitz, the one which stood above my desk in the monastic cell in France over ten years before his canonization.

This the tenth anniversary of the publication by the great Paulist Press of this excellent and comprehensive biography written by Dr. Elaine Murray Stone (author as well of Elizabeth Bayley Seton, An American Saint) is an excellent time to acquire this treasured volume for your spiritual and Hagiographic library.

An excellent and comprehensive and factual introduction to this Saint, augmented by a comprehensive bibliography and suggestions for further reading. Good at any age!

Specializing in the biographies of saints Elaine Murray Stone presents here a pious but readable study on the life and Christian dedication of a Polish priest during World War II: Father Maximilian Kolbe. Using simple syntax and headlines within chapters the author offers interested readers a clear timeline of the events and challenges experienced by this devout Franciscan in wartorn Poland. The Paulist Press chose artist Patrick Kelley to provide illustrations, in muted gray and charcoal tones, based on actual photographs taken during the future saint's ecclesiastical career. The cover, in limited colors, depicts a serious man holding a lighted candle (representing God's eternal truth and Jesus' promise of salvation) standing behind rows of barbed wire. Potential readers are immediately drawn to learn more about this model of piety and humility.

In boyhood Raymond Kolbe dedicated his life to the special service of Mary, the Mother of Our Lord; he willingly accepted--in a miraculous Vision--the double crowns of purity and martyrdom which she offered him. As Mary's lifelong ardent champion he created an order of Knights of the Immaculate, and eventually founded two monasteries: the City of Mary in eastern Poland and later one in Nagasaki, Japan. Facing every challenge with simple grace, he relied on divine intervention to prosper his self-assigned work in the name of the Blessed Mother.

His widely circulated THE KNIGHT Catholic newspaper (and later radio broadcasts) helped inspire thousands of Catholics in their faith and many to accept the Calling. Canonized in 1982 after his heroic but humble self sacrifice at Auschwitz, Father Kolbe is credited with many miracles of healing. His life exemplified quiet acceptance of his Nazi tormentors, and extreme compassion for his fellow sufferers--regardless of their religious beliefs. To the end he urged Christians to forgive their tormentors and to rejoice in the holiness of perfomring their duty to God.

Very inspiring.

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Sibyl L Kupec

For those not familiar with the Story of maximilian Kolbe this book is an adequate if flawed start. Maximilian Kolbe was a Catholic priest/friar who voluntarly gave his life in Auschwitz, where he was imprisioned for speaking out against the Nazi regiem, so that a Jew may live. The man whom he died for ultimately did in fact survive Auchwitz and tell his Story. While the Story of Maximilian Kolbe is inspiring, tragic and ulitimatly uplifting I was a little disappointed at the way in which this book tells that Story. First of all this book is not a very in depth look at the life and times of Kolbe, it is written at about a sixth grade level, and often over states what should be painfully obvious to any adult reader with a basic knowledge in history of WWII. The other thing that I disliked about this book was the way in which it portrayed the faith of Max Kolbe. Maximilian Kolbe in this book is portrayed as being extremly Marian in his faith. Through out the book Mary and terms like "the Blessed mother" "our Blessed lady" "the mother of God" ect are used over and over again while Jesus is only mentioned by name a small number of times. While I have no doubt that Mary was an important part of his faith, (She was after all the one who offered him the crowns of purity and martyrdom ) I would like to belive that his faith was much more complete than portrayed in this book. Also as a Catholic I felt that this portrayal plays into the protestant sterotype of Mary worshoping Catholics. Mary by all means should be given her due both as a saint and as the mother of Jesus but should not be placed above Jesus himself.This book could due well in teaching Grade schoolers about Maximilian Kolbe, Auschwitz, the Nazi's as well as WWII but adults would due better with other more in depth books such as "Catholic Martys of the twetieth Century" by Robert Royal