Edith Stein, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, 1891-1942

"Born in Breslau, Germany, murdered in the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, Poland, Edith Stein dedicated her life to a pursuit of truth leading from her roots in Judaism, via adolescent agnosticism to the study of philosophy, to Catholicism and ultimately to life as a Carmelite. She served God with prayer, scholarship and dedication to her fellow human beings, created in God's image.

 In 1933, while others kept silent, she sought help from the Vatican for her beleaguered Jewish community, an Esther who pleaded for her people. In her writings she probed the meaning of suffering and reached for closeness to God.

She endured the indignities inflicted by her Nazi persecutors sustained by prayer and caring for the children around her.

With her older sister Rosa, she died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Edith Stein was beatified and declared a saint by Pope John Paul II."

Text by Susanne M. Batzdorff  (Poet and Writer; niece of Edith Stein)

Portrait of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross      by Sr. Marie Celeste, o.c.d     Carmel of Reno

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For further information on St. Edith Stein, see the following sites:

CANONIZATION OF EDITH STEIN and HOMILY by Pope John Paul II

Chronology of Writings of Edith Stein

 Collected Works of Bl. Edith Stein, vol. 4: The Hidden Life: Hagiographic Essays, Meditations, Spiritual Texts, edited by Dr. L. Gelber and Michael Linssen, O.C.D.

Edith Stein: A Fragmented Life by Steven Payne

Edith Stein: An Example of Spiritual Freedom (Sr. Licinia Faresin)

Introductory Bibliography for Edith Stein

"Personal Connections: The Phenomenology of Edith Stein."