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August 9
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
(1891-1942)
Convert, Nun, Martyr
A brilliant philosopher who stopped believing in
God when she was 14, Edith Stein was so captivated by reading the autobiography of Teresa of Avila (October
15) that she began a spiritual
journey that led to her Baptism in 1922. Twelve years
later she imitated Teresa by becoming a Carmelite,
taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the
Cross.
Born into a
prominent Jewish family in Breslau
(now Wroclaw, Poland), Edith abandoned
Judaism in her teens. As a student at the University of Göttingen, she
became fascinated by phenomenology,
an approach to philosophy. Excelling as a protégé of Edmund Husserl, one of the leading phenomenologists, Edith earned a
doctorate in philosophy in 1916. She continued as a university teacher until
1922 when she moved to a Dominican school in Speyer; her appointment as lecturer at the Educational Institute
of Munich ended under pressure from the Nazis.
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After living in
the Cologne Carmel (1934-38), she moved to
the Carmelite monastery in Echt,
Netherlands. The Nazis occupied that country in 1940. In retaliation
for being denounced by the Dutch bishops, the Nazis arrested all Dutch Jews
who had become Christians. Teresa Benedicta and her sister Rosa, also a Catholic, died in a gas chamber in Auschwitz on August 9, 1942. Pope John Paul
II beatified Teresa Benedicta in 1987 and canonized her 12 years later. |
Comment:
The writings of Edith Stein fill 17 volumes, many of which have been translated
into English. A woman of integrity, she followed the truth wherever it led her.
After becoming a Catholic, Edith continued to honor her mother’s Jewish faith.
Sister Josephine Koeppel, O.C.D. , translator of several of Edith’s books, sums
up this saint with the phrase, “Learn to
live at God’s hands.”
Quote:
In his homily at the canonization Mass, Pope John Paul II said: “Because she
was Jewish, Edith Stein was taken
with her sister Rosa and many other Catholics and Jews from the Netherlands to
the concentration camp in Auschwitz,
where she died with them in the gas
chambers. Today we remember them all with deep respect. A few days before
her deportation, the woman religious had dismissed the question about a
possible rescue: ‘Do not do it! Why should I be spared? Is it not right that I
should gain no advantage from my Baptism? If I cannot share the lot of my
brothers and sisters, my life, in a certain sense, is destroyed.’”
Addressing himself
to the young people gathered for the canonization, the pope said: “Your life is not an endless series of open
doors! Listen to your heart! Do not stay on the surface but go to the heart of
things! And when the time is right, have the courage to decide! The Lord is
waiting for you to put your freedom in his good hands.”
St. Edith
Stein, Pray for us.
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