We have quite the story for you today. It's about a man named Maximilian Kolbe.
Art
from 'Happy Saints eBook 2', available here:
I agree with you Tallulah, he was very special. Maximilian was from the country of Poland. (Poland is the dark blue country smack in the middle.)
He became a Franciscan priest. He had a special love for Mary and wanted everyone to know about her, so he started a magazine called "The Knight of the Immaculata".
The Nazis were very mean. They hated the Jews and were not that fond of Catholic priests. In 1941, the Nazis arrested Father Maximilian and sent him to Auschwitz prison.
That is terrible Cloë. Did he ever get out of jail?
Well that is where the story gets interesting. A prisoner escaped and the Nazis were so mad that they decided to kill 10 of the prisoners.
That's not very nice, I don't think I like this story.
Well it's not a nice story, that's for sure. One of the 10, Franciszek Gajowniczek, was a father with young children. Father Maximilian offered to take his place and on this day (August 14, 1941) Father Maximilian was killed.
Wow, he died so that man could live. That is amazing. What happened to that man?
It certainly is Tallulah. Well Cloë, Franciszek lived to see the end of the war and in fact he lived to be 93 years old! He was at St. Peter's when then Pope John Paul II declared Maximilian to be a saint.
God is not asking most of us to die for someone, but He definitely wants us to help others in our own little way.
Today, thousands of Christians and others are being persecuted and killed in various countries. One small way we can help is to pray for these people. Another is to thank God that we can go to church anytime we want and we are not in danger of being arrested or killed.
That's right Cloë, no one has ever said anything bad to us when we go to church or when we are waiting outside the church. We are definitely lucky!
Woof!
Cloë and Tallulah
P.S. To learn more about how to help the Christians in the Middle East, click here.
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