Saint Maximilian Kolbe: A Hero of the Holocaust

by Fiorella De Maria

Overview

Maximilian Kolbe's decision to take the place of a condemned man in the Auschwitz concentration camp is one of the greatest stories of heroism to emerge from the Holocaust. This book brings to life for a younger audience the incredible story of a Polish weaver's son who grew up to be a priest, a missionary, and a martyr.

Kolbe lived amid the political unrest, the social change, and the spiritual battles that shaped the modern world. In the thick of it all, he had one goal—to share the love of God with as many people as possible. And he was a great innovator, spreading the Gospel through multimedia—a work that took him all the way to Nagasaki, Japan.

With his deep love for Our Lady, Kolbe also founded a Marian movement that has spread throughout the world, the Militia Immaculatae, also known as the Knights of the Immaculata. His imitation of Mary's tremendous trust in God enabled him to bring hope everywhere he went, including a prison camp.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781621643227
Publisher:	Ignatius Press
Publication date:	08/31/2022
Series:	Vision Books
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	9 - 15 Years

About the Author

Fiorella De Maria was born in Italy of Maltese parents. She grew up in Wiltshire, England, and attended Cambridge University, where she received a Bachelor’s in English Literature and a Master’s in Renaissance Literature. She lives in Surrey with her husband and children.  A winner of the National Book Prize of Malta, she has published four other novels with Ignatius Press: Poor Banished Children, Do No Harm, We'll Never Tell Them and the first Father Gabriel mystery, The Sleeping Witness.

Table of Contents

1 The Boy with the Two Crowns 7

2 Students and Brothers 23

3 A Novice in the Eternal City 35

4 A Priest and a Knight 44

5 How a Printing Press Founded a City 54

6 A Tiny Elephant Leads Maximilian to Japan 84

7 Poland's Agony Begins 115

8 February 1941: Into the Hands of His Enemies 140

9 Auschwitz 153

10 Kolbe's Choice 175

Afterword 189

Bibliography 191