Commentary: Count me amongst those who look askance at Saint Maximilian Kolbe's classification as a martyr. Was he a saint? Absolutely. Did he live a life of heroic charity in the service of the Lord? Without a doubt. Was he murdered? Yes. Was he murdered for his devotion to Christ? Tortuous argumentation is needed to make that claim. If he's a martyr, an argument could be made that everyone who died in the Nazi death camps—Catholic, Jewish, or atheist—was a martyr. Pope Saint John Paul II was a great man, a saint, but fairly or not I see an unseemly Polish chauvinism in the flaunting of establish protocols to declare Saint Maximilian Kolbe not just a confessor, but a martyr.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Doors, "Hello, I Love You" from Platoon: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: I am not a saint, clearly.
"Her arms are wicked and her legs are long,
When she moves my brain screams out this song…"
2 comments:
I think that the argument could be made that he ended up in the death camp because he was living out his faith and that's what makes him a martyr. Also, Mary told him he was going to be a martyr, so are you going to argue with her about that?
I'll leave it to Our Lady to show me the error of my ways, if err I do. This would not be the first time there was a prominent 20th century misinterpretation of her revelations (*cough* Fatima *cough*). Meanwhile, I shall continue to honor Saint Maximilian Kolbe as a saint, remembering that the claims of his martyrdom were made by others.
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