Christian Men and Women

Saint Maximilan Kolbe

Saint Maximilan Kolbe was a Catholic priest who was captured in 1939 by the Nazis and taken to a prison camp called Auschwitz. In this camp thousands of innocent men, women and children were killed. Many of them were Jews.

One day a prisoner managed to escape this made the Nazi soldiers very angry and they decided that seven prisoners should die as a punishment and used to make sure that no other prisoner would try to escape. When six were killed the last man stepped forward. He was a young man who had a wife and young children. He sobbed and asked that his life be spared. Fr Kolbe stepped forward and amazed the soldiers by telling them to kill him instead as he was old and had nobody to leave behind. The Nazi soldiers did not really care who died so they put the priest to death. Years later the man was reunited with his family thanks to the brave actions of the priest.

The virtues that Saint Maimilan Kolbe displayed throughout his life included Justice, Courage (Fortitude), Hope, Faith and Love (Charity).