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Also known as
Teresia Benedicta; Edith Stein
Profile
Youngest of seven children in a Jewish family. Edit lost interest and
faith in Judaism by age 13. Brilliant student and philosopher with an
interest in phenomenology. Studied at the University of Gottingen and in
Breisgau. Earned her doctorate in philosophy in 1916 at age 25. Witnessing
the strength of faith of Catholic friends led her to an interest in
Catholicism, which led to studying a catechism on her own, which led to
"reading herself into" the Faith. Converted to Catholicism in Cologne,
Germany, and was baptized in the cathedral church on 1 January 1922.
Carmelite nun in 1934, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
Teacher in the Dominican school in Speyer, and lecturer at the Educational
Institute in Munich. However, anti-Jewish pressure from the Nazis forced
her to resign both positions. Profound spiritual writer.
Both Jewish and Catholic, she was smuggled out of Germany, and assigned to
Echt, Holland in 1938. When the Nazis invaded Holland, she and her sister
Rose, also a convert to Catholicism, were captured and sent to the
concentration camp at Auschwitz where they died in the ovens like so many
others.
Born
12 October 1891 at Breslaw, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland) as Edith Stein
Died
gassed on 9 August 1942 in the ovens of Auschwitz
Beatified
1 May 1987 by Pope John Paul II in the cathedral at Cologne, Germany
Canonized
11 October 1998 by Pope John Paul II
Patronage
Europe, loss of parents, martyrs
Readings
Whatever did not fit in with my plan did lie within the plan of God. I
have an ever deeper and firmer belief that nothing is merely an accident
when seen in the light of God, that my whole life down to the smallest
details has been marked out for me in the plan of Divine Providence and
has a completely coherent meaning in God's all-seeing eyes. And so I am
beginning to rejoice in the light of glory wherein this meaning will be
unveiled to me.
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
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God is there in these moments of rest and can give us in a single instant
exactly what we need. Then the rest of the day can take its course, under
the same effort and strain, perhaps, but in peace. And when night comes,
and you look back over the day and see how fragmentary everything has
been, and how much you planned that has gone undone, and all the reasons
you have to be embarrassed and ashamed: just take everything exactly as it
is, put it in God’s hands and leave it with Him. Then you will be able to
rest in Him -- really rest -- and start the next day as a new life.
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
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Learn from Saint Thérèse to depend on God alone and serve Him with a
wholly pure and detached heart. Then, like her, you will be able to say ‘I
do not regret that I have given myself up to Love’.
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
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O my God, fill my soul with holy joy, courage and strength to serve You.
Enkindle Your love in me and then walk with me along the next stretch of
road before me. I do not see very far ahead, but when I have arrived where
the horizon now closes down, a new prospect will open before me, and I
shall meet it with peace.
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
source:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintt05.htm |
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