Le Fou de Notre Dame: Le Père Maximilien Kolbe by Maria Winowska (review)

Abstract

172BOOK REVIEWS other minor points, the work deserves great praise. It is a creditable contribution to the study of the Fathers. This volume is highly recommended not only to those who are interested in the philosophy and theology of Augustine but also to those who are looking for an analysis of truths that have frequently become stumbling blocks in the lives of the uninstructed or the partiallyinstructed . FIRMIN M. SCHMIDT, O.F.M. CAP. Capuchin College, Washington, D.C. Le Fou de Notre Dame: Le Père Maximilien Kolbe. By Maria Winowska. Paris, France: Editions du Cerf, 1948. Pp. 31. The story of Father Vlaximilien Kolbe, O.F.M. Conv. resembles that of a modern knight thoroughly imbued with a supernatural affection for his. "Lady Love" (Cf. Franciscan Herald and Forum XXVHI, No. 4 (April, 1949) p. 127). Practically without funds, amidst discouraging opposition and almost insurmountable obstacles he founded an organ "The Malitia of Mary" which by 1939 had reached the incredible circulation of a million copies a month in Europe and a correspondingly large circulation in Japan (Nagasaki). The priests and brothers at the friary and printery of Niepokalanov (City of the Immaculata) at one time reached the equally incredible number for modern times of seven hundred members. Father Kolbe had always desired to die a martyr's death. In 1941 he was arrested by the German Nazi invaders of Poland and on May 28 sent to Ausschwitz (Oswiecim). On July 30 a man escaped from camp. In punishment thereof and as a further determent, ten fellow-prisoners were sentenced to die by the infamous test-starvation bunker in the camp. One of the ten was the father of a family. Fr. Maximilien begged and obtained leave to take his place. By August 14 he was the only survivor. The fiends then finished him off with a carbolic injection! His wish had been fulfilled . He died a martyr of charity on the Eve of the Assumption, just in time to celebrate Mary's feast with his Lady Love in Heaven. The booklet entitled "The Fool of Notre Dame*—because Father Kolbe so often attempted the seemingly impossible in Mary's honor—is BOOK REVIEWS173 pleasingly written, although undocumented. At times, especially in the earlier part of the story one would welcome a more exact chronology; a few German expressions are misspelled; whereas on p. 29 we are told that the head of the "Lagerfiihrer", Fritsch, resembled that of a "bouldogue ". But for all that the booklet has already reached a wide circulation and this reviewer presages for it a still larger diffusion the greater the interest in Father Kolbe grows. His cause for beatification was opened at Padua on May 24, 1948, less than seven years after his death! RAPHAEL M. HUBER, O.F.M. CONV. Catholic University, Washington, D.C. Naturaleza, Historia, Dios. By Xavier Zubiri. Madrid, Spain: Editora Nacional, 1944. Pp. 563. Although this book made its public appearance four years ago it well deserves that we should devote a few lines to it, particularly because at the time of its appearance it did not receive due attention. Under the title of Nature, History, God, and in answer to a request of former students and friends, the author has grouped together in one volume the essays written within the last ten years and previously published, either wholly or in part, in various national and foreign magazines. The book contains a brief introduction and three parts, the third of which gives its general title to the book. In the introduction the author calls our attention to the fact that the grouping of divers papers into three parts is somewhat arbitrary and is calculated to facilitate their reading. Here are the titles of the various essays: Part I (Reality, Science, Philosophy): Our Intellectual Situation; What is knowledge; Science and Reality; Aristotle's Idea of Philosophy; Philosophical knowledge and its History, Part II (Philosophy in its History): Historical Notes; Socrates and Greek Wisdom; Hegel and the Metaphysical Problem. Part III (Nature, History, God): The Idea of Nature: The New Physics; Human History: Greece and the Survival of the Philosophical Past; Concerning the Problem of God; The Supernatural Being: God...