Canonization of St. Maximilian Kolbe Valid?

[Nichevo]

My parents came up to visit us this week and as usual my dad and I ended up in a discussion about religion. A bit of background, my father is a Deacon and my sister is pursuing a graduate degree in Theology. Both are far more liberal in their views than I.

The disagreement stemmed from my father questioning the idea of the Kolbe canonization as JPII declared him a Martyr for Charity not the Faith as was the pro-forma reason of the past. My response was that as Kolbe was in Auschwitz for being a priest who didn’t play by the rules of the occupying Nazi government and who gave refuge and safe haven to those escaping persecution. In addition, Kolbe suffered an intense test of faith during his 10 days in the starvation bunker and truly fulfilled the “greater love no man hath…”

Opinion?

We also had a discussion on the Divine Mercy Chaplet, he feels the Theology behind it is invalid; more on that later.

 

[Leo44]

Sounds like your father gets up on the left side of the bed. Side with JP2 and you’ll be on the right (correct) side of any issue. Then pray for your father and those like him.

 

[Nichevo]

Funny thing is, he wakes up on the right side for everything else. Must be those Capuchins he works with…

 

[Hesychios]

Nichevo:

The disagreement stemmed from my father questioning the idea of the Kolbe canonization as JPII declared him a Martyr for Charity not the Faith as was the pro-forma reason of the past.

Opinion?

Could you explain this further? He was declared a martyr for charity? Is this something new? I don’t know the all rules concerning canonizations like this.

We also had a discussion on the Divine Mercy Chaplet, he feels the Theology behind it is invalid; more on that later.

Curious about this as well. I have always thought the Divine Mercy chaplet is a lot like the Jesus prayer (my favorite). If you could elaborate on his views I would like to know more from his perspective.

I wouldn’t jump to conclusions or get dismissive right away, he has obviously done some homework. I would like to get a better understanding of where he is coming from on these things. Clearly he thinks highly enough of your abilities to be able to carry on a dialogue with you about it.

 

[cyprian]

I can’t question a priest’s holiness when he substitute’s his life for another. Saints are recognized by their living testimony, example.

 

[Ray_Marshall]

Hesychios:

I have always thought the Divine Mercy chaplet is a lot like the Jesus prayer (my favorite). If you could elaborate on his views I would like to know more from his perspective.

Agreed on the chaplet.

I don’t have any hard evidence here, but reading between the lines of some statements on the subject, I sense that some theological liberals seem to think that we don’t need Mercy.

Well I don’t now about them, but I sure do and an extremely thankful for it.

 

[Hesychios]

Ray Marshall:

Agreed on the chaplet.

I don’t have any hard evidence here, but reading between the lines of some statements on the subject, I sense that some theological liberals seem to think that we don’t need Mercy.

Well I don’t now about them, but I sure do and an extremely thankful for it.

I don’t know whether these people are liberals, conservatives or sceptics.

But I need mercy big time (I think some people who read my posts will agree).

If left to God’s absolute justice I have no hope.

+T+
Michael

 

[dominicsavio]

Peace be with you!

Well, you can read the text of St. Max’s canonization here: theworkofgod.org/Saints/Lives/MaxKolbe.htm

JPII does not say that he is a martyr for charity instead of a martyr for the Faith. He proclaims him a martyr and says that his death was a heroic act of charity. That is different than what your father said. Furthermore, he proclaims that from his youth his life was given to God and to the love of neighbor. People are canonized because they lived the Faith heroically. St. Max Kolbe did this throughout his whole life. I have read one book on his life (Forget Not Love–very good) and have been reading another one on his life this last week. I am convinced that even had he not offered up his life for that man he would have been canonized. St. Max is just like the other saints you read about. He truly was a model of prayer, holiness, self-sacrifice and heroic charity. I have heard it said…“The only thing as hard as dying a martyr’s death, is to live a martyr’s life”…Kolbe lived a martyrs life. His death flowed very naturally out of the way he lived his life.

You should read the stories of how he lived before he was arrested. Or how when he was in the concentration camp he would stay up all night in order to put the blankets on other prisoners as it fell off them in the freezing cold. He sacrificed himself constantly for others. Or how he would give his bread (which already wasn’t much) to other prisoners who needed it to live. He truly gave everything throughout his life. That is why he was canonized. He lived charity heroically.

 

[Nichevo]

dominicsavio:

I have read one book on his life (Forget Not Love–very good) and have been reading another one on his life this last week.

Thank you for the link! I have read Forget Not Love and other books about St. Maximilian Kolbe. He was the Saint whose name I chose for Confirmation (1987) and was someone whose life and example I followed as I made my way back to the Church after an Augustine like period of separation.

Hesychios:

Curious about this as well. I have always thought the Divine Mercy chaplet is a lot like the Jesus prayer (my favorite). If you could elaborate on his views I would like to know more from his perspective.

Certainly, at present our debate stands as follows: He believes that Christ’s sacrifice served to free us from original sin only. My counter-argument and citations for it is as follows:

The statement can be countered by the argument that original sin was the prima causa of all sin. It was through the original sin that all sin entered the world. It would logically follow that, as the cause of all sin was forgiven in the act of sacrifice, all sin that emanated from the first sin would also be forgiven. This action of forgiveness is total as Christ submitted by free will to counter Adam’s sin made of free will. Forgiveness is then not automatic as it requires our free will to accept or reject the sacrifice made by Christ. Upon acceptance (baptism), we enocunter the grace of forgiveness that continues to come to us for our sins throughout life in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. All grace and forgiveness still stems from the sacrfice Christ made on the cross.

Aquinas in the Summa said: “…the amends made if thought of as freeing us from liability of punishment, our ransom if thought of as freeing us from slavery to sin, and our sacrificial offering if thought of as reconciling us to God.”

St. Augustine also discusses the concepts of sin, free will, and redemption in Book Seven of Confessions titled “Last Impediments” ch. 3 “Free Will and Sin.”

Finally the Catechism says, that Christ was the one whose sacrifice would free men from the slavery of sin and fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy of the suffering servant.(601), and that through his death and resurrection he liberates us from sin (original) and opens the way to new life (forgiveness of sins through God’s grace) made possible by the New Covenant which had Christ himself at the center as the sacrifice.

Anyway, that’s where our debate presently stands. I guess I am lucky though to have a Dad I can debate Theology with, it makes for conversations that are never boring and I never have to make small talk about cousins I really can’t remember.

 

[Irish_Melkite]

Nichevo:

The disagreement stemmed from my father questioning the idea of the Kolbe canonization as JPII declared him a Martyr for Charity not the Faith as was the pro-forma reason of the past. My response was that as Kolbe was in Auschwitz for being a priest who didn’t play by the rules of the occupying Nazi government and who gave refuge and safe haven to those escaping persecution. In addition, Kolbe suffered an intense test of faith during his 10 days in the starvation bunker and truly fulfilled the “greater love no man hath…”

Nichevo,

Actually the styling of Kolbe as a “Martyr for Charity” is not related to his imprisonment at Auschwitz as a priest nor to his term in the bunker.

There are 5 categories of martyrdom; a Latin phrase, identifying the nature of the martyrdom is appended to the martyr’s name, usually after the geographic placename where he or she died. The descriptive categories are:

Martyrdom:

• in odium fidei from hatred of the faith
• in defensum castitatis in defense of chastity
• ex aerumnis carceris from the hardships of incarceration
• per testimonium caritatis fortis by witness of heroic charity
• ex acertatibus et vexationibusque pro fidei quibus pertulit by reason of the force and violence which were endured for the faith

Maximilian Kolbe was declared a martyr per testimonium caritatis fortis inasmuch as he voluntarily gave up his life in an act of charity, to save the life of another (as opposed to having been singled out for death because of his faith).

Other examples of those who either have been declared to be martyrs per testimonium caritatis fortis or are martyrs per testimonium caritatis fortis, uti fertur (i.e., “martyrs by witness of heroic charity, so it is said” - those yet pending a formal determination by the Congregation of their status):

• Saint Lawrence, Archdeacon of Rome, martyr per testimonium caritatis fortis, who died at Rome, on 10 August 258, roasted on a gridiron for dispersing the wealth of the Church to the poor and indigent when, as the ranking cleric in the city after the martyrdom of Pope Saint Sixtus II, he had been ordered by the Roman civil authorities to surrender it to them and who was beatified pre-Congregation;
• Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, SJ, martyr per testimonium caritatis fortis, who died on the Octave of Corpus Christi 1591, of the effects of bubonic plague contracted when he volunteered to nurse those sick of the disease and who was canonized in 1726;
• Servant of God Father Joseph Curr, martyr per testimonium caritatis fortis, uti fertur, who died at Leeds, England, on 29 June 1847, of typhus contracted when he volunteered to serve in Leeds as a priest during an epidemic of the disease;
• Blessed Father Damien the Leper (Damien DeVeuster, ss.cc.), martyr per testimonium caritatis fortis, who died at Molokai, on 15 April 1889, of the effects of leprosy contracted caring for those confined by the disease to the leper colony on the island and who was beatified on 3 June 1995;
• Blessed Father Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski, martyr per testimonium caritatis fortis, who died at Dachau, on 23 February 1945, of typhus contracted while he cared for other prisoners with the disease and who was beatified on 7 June 1999;
• Blessed Bishop Baron Vilmos Apor, martyr per testimonium caritatis fortis, who died in Hungary on Easter Monday, 2 April 1945, of wounds received trying to save women from drunken Soviet soldiers and who was beatified on 12 November 1997;
• Servant of God Sister Rani Maria Vattalil, FCC, martyr per testimonium caritatis fortis, uti fertur who died at Nachanbore Hill, India on 25 February 1995, of knife wounds inflicted on her by an assailant angry at her efforts to empower the poor in her role as Provincial Councillor of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation with charge of the Department of Social Services of the Diocese of Indore.

Hope the info helps.

Many years,

Neil

 

[Nichevo]

Neil,

Many thanks! The info you gave cleared up his questions concerning the Canonization.

God Bless,

Anthony

 

[Augustine]

Nichevo:

The statement can be countered by the argument that original sin was the prima causa of all sin. It was through the original sin that all sin entered the world. It would logically follow that, as the cause of all sin was forgiven in the act of sacrifice, all sin that emanated from the first sin would also be forgiven.

Forgive my ignorance, but this sounds as the Protestant notion of once saved by accepting Jesus willingly, forever saved. Or is it only me?

 

[Nichevo]

Augustine:

Forgive my ignorance, but this sounds as the Protestant notion of once saved by accepting Jesus willingly, forever saved. Or is it only me?

No, that’s not my argument at all, I apologize if that is how it came across, and I will try to clarify the argument and my position.

Prior to the coming of Christ, this bar to total forgiveness existed due to the original sin of Adam. The sacrifice made by Christ on the Cross moves both ***forward and backward through time ***not just backwards to forgive original sin. The idea is that while the sacrifice of Christ did forgive original sin, it also established an opportunity of grace for the forgiveness of sins to be committed in the future (as time to us is not as to God for God exists outside of time.) The first sin (original sin) was forgiven by the crucifixion, as the first sin was now forgiven; the opportunity for forgiveness of other sins now exists as the cause of all sin has been forgiven, not that "once saved forever saved".

The sacrifice Christ made on the Cross was the sealing of the New Covenant begun with the institution of the Eucharist. The continuance of that Covenant requires the cooperation of both parties; God in the grace of forgiveness, and man*** in willingness to seek that forgiveness***.

What I am saying is that the Catholic, in cooperation with Christ through submission by free will and penance when sin is committed, is offered the grace of forgiveness for their sins via the sacrifice made by Christ.

I guess the shortest way I can think to put it, and should have put it originally, is that the sacrament of Reconciliation is a special gift from God. This gift was given through the New Covenant established by Christ through his death and resurrection. The sacrifice made on the cross is where the grace of God’s forgiveness emanates from. I hope this has clarified my position.

 

[Augustine]

Nichevo:

I hope this has clarified my position.

Beautifully so, but not that it was originally poorly stated, perhaps I had understood it poorly.

 

[wrbill]

This of course is extremely late, but just in case …

I’ve heard objections to the Divine Mercy, but they came from someone who gets up on the right side of the bed, basically because St. Faustina was canonized by John Paul II, who was after Pius XII – this person who objected is, I believe, one of those sede vacantist characters.

However – The Divine Mercy is still a private revelation, and Catholics are not required to believe it. So, if somebody says they don’t believe it, they aren’t any less a Catholic.

Though, for my part, I think anyone who rejects the Divine Mercy is reallllly missing the boat.

 

[Victorious]

I’ve never before heard of anyone arguing that St. Maximilian Kolbe was invalidly canonized. The Church cannot err in canonizing a saint, so we do not need to worry about venerating as a saint someone who is in hell.

Incidentally, somebody mentioned Bl. Damien of Molokai. Didn’t I read somewhere that he is going to be canonized later this year?

I know this is a tangent, but here are three more people whose canonizations I await impatiently:

1. Bl. Margaret of Castello. She has only been waiting, oh, 720 years!
2. Servant of God Pius XII. Talk about a heroic practitioner of charity.
3. Servant of God Fr. Vincent Capodanno. There is another martyr of charity: he was killed saving the lives of his beloved Marines under fire in Vietnam on September 4, 1967. He was also postumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.