How Did Maximillian Kolbe Live A Sacramental Life?

Maximillian Kolbe can be seen living a sacramental life when he offered to give up his life in order to save a fellow prisoner, founded a religious group and staying firm in his faith. Because of the many courageous and heroic actions that Maximillian performed, he was then canonized in 1982 by Pope John Paul II. Even after his death, Kolbe is still being highly regarded and admired for the great person he was. One reason that he was highly regarded to was because he decided that a fellow prisoners life was worth more than his, and he would give up Kolbe’s own life in order to save another life. This took place during World War II in a prisoner camp named Auschwitz. In that camp, there was a rule stating that if a prisoner was to escape, ten other prisoners would die in his place. During that time, one prisoner managed to escape and was not caught. While the soldiers began to choose ten different people, a sergeant called out telling that he had a wife and children. When Maximillian Kolbe heard this, he decided that he would like to take offer himself to be killed than the sergeant. His death was then brought about by a two week starvation period, and when he didn’t die …show more content…
Before he was sent to the Nazi camp, he was asked to sign the Deutsche Volksliste. This would have given him rights that would be similar to those of German citizens in exchange for recognizing and acknowledging his German ancestry. When he refused to sign this contract, he was heavily punished. The Nazis would often save the worst punishment for him; even letting vicious dogs loose on him. During his time of being a priest, Kolbe was often violently harassed which included beatings and lashings. At one time, he even had to be secretly smuggled to a prison hospital by friendly inmates. Even though he was often treated quite cruel, he still kept a firm belief in his faith even at the darkest