Maximilian Kolbe: The Saint of Auschwitz

1941. Auschwitz.

When a condemned prisoner cries out in despair, a Franciscan priest steps forward. “Let me take this man’s place,” says Fr. Maximilian Kolbe, freely offering his life for a stranger. This was no impulsive gesture, but the culmination of a lifetime of deliberate Christian sacrifice—a path of martyrdom he embraced as a boy of twelve.

In just forty-seven years, Fr. Kolbe became a priest and missionary, earned a doctorate, founded the Militia Immaculate, published the largest religious newspaper in Europe, opposed Nazi evil, sheltered Jews, established monasteries and ministries across continents, and carried the Gospel as far as Nagasaki. His death at Auschwitz was not an end, but the crown of a life wholly given to Christ.

This vivid, compelling biography tells the story of a saint whose heroic charity still speaks to the world.