Maximilian Kolbe’s decision to take the place of a condemned man in Auschwitz and die by starvation is one of the greatest stories of heroism to emerge from the Holocaust. This book brings to life for a younger audience the incredible story of a Polish weaver’s son who grew up to be a priest, theologian, publisher, missionary, and martyr. Kolbe grew up in a tumultuous period of political unrest, social change and spiritual battles that have shaped the modern world, but he was also a great innovator, bringing the Gospel to the world through multimedia, a vocation that took him all the way to Nagasaki.

In this 75^th anniversary year of the liberation of Auschwitz and the bombing of Nagasaki, it is fitting that a book should be published about a saint whose mission gave hope in two places so associated with man’s inhumanity to man. This is the 34^th book in the acclaimed and best-selling Vision Books series of saints and heroes for youth 9-15 years old.

Fiorella De Maria, an Anglo-Maltese writer living in Surrey, England, studied English Literature at the University of Cambridge. A winner of the National Book Prize of Malta, she has published eight other books with Ignatius Press, including A Most Dangerous Innocence, We’ll Never Tell Them and the Fr. Gabriel Mystery series.