St. Edith Stein, Carmelite Martyr of the Holocaust

St. Edith Stein, Carmelite Martyr: 1891-1942 A.D.

Born to a very devout Jewish family

The youngest of seven children of Siegfried and Augusta Stein, who were both Orthodox Jews, Edith was born on October 12, 1891 A.D. in the city of Breslau in Silesia, now known as Wroclaw, Poland. She was only twenty one months old when her father died. Her mother took charge of the family lumber business, and raised the family as fervent Jews. They went to the local synagogue on the Jewish high holy days and they said prayers in their home every sabbath. Edith Stein became an exceptional student who developed an intense interest in philosophy.

Renounced her faith and became an atheist

At about age fifteen, Edith lost the ability to pray and soon renounced her faith. Declaring herself an atheist, in 1911 A.D., at the age of twenty, she enrolled at the University of Breslau, in the Department of Experimental Psychology, a branch of the Philosophy Department. She developed also a lifelong love for art, music and literature - noting in her writings her being moved deeply by a favorite concert of Bach.

Influenced by the philosopher Edmund Husserl

From the University of Breslau, Edith transferred to Gottingen. At Gottingen, she was very much influenced by some outstanding Jewish philosophers: Husserl, Adolf Reinach, Max Scheler, and Theodore Conrad. Edith entered the class of Husserl were she was introduced into the exciting new world of phenomenology. Since Husserl and the other leading intellectuals of Gottingen where men and women of deep spirituality, Edith was introduced also by Husserl to the Greek philosophers and the medieval Scholastics like St. Thomas Aquinas.

Received her doctorate degree "summa cum laude"

Edith's studies was interrupted by World War I. In 1915 A.D., she became a Red Cross nurse and served for six months in Moravia nursing Austrian soldiers infected with dysentery, cholera and spotted fever. In 1916 A.D., she received her doctorate "summa cum laude", and was invited by Husserl to be his first assistant at his new post at the University of Freiburg. It was a first for a woman to have held such a position in Germany at the time.

Edith converts to Catholicism

Edith then left her post in Freiburg in 1918 A.D. and returned to her home in Breslau. Although she was attracted to Catholicism during her studies, it was not until she read the works of St. Teresa of Avila, a sixteenth century mystic, that her intellectual interest with leading Catholic philosophers blossomed into faith. She decided (against the wishes of her family) to become Catholic in 1921 A.D. and was baptized in the church of St. Martin in Bergzabern on January 1, 1922 A.D. at the age of thirty. Following her baptism in 1922 A.D., Edith retired from university circles and took a teaching job for eight years at the Dominican Sisters school of St. Magdalene's in Speyer. She taught high school girls, novices, and nuns preparing for a teaching career.

Entering the Carmel of Cologne

Between 1922 to 1933 A.D., Edith taught, wrote, studied, gave lectures, attended conferences, pursued her scholarly life as a well known philosopher and developed her spiritual life as a Catholic. She also began what would become an extensive body of original work in Catholic philosophy. In 1933 A.D., she was forced to resign as lecturer because of Nazi laws banning Jews from holding academic positions. As Nazism intensified in Germany, Edith considered entering the Carmelites. And so on October 14, 1933, at age 42, she joined the Carmel of Cologne on the eve of the feast of St. Teresa of Avila, and took the name Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross - reminding herself of the influence of St. Teresa of Avila's works, and also that of St. John of the Cross, plus the spirit of St. Benedict through her close association with the Benedictine Abbey of Beuron.

The Nazis overrun Europe

The persecution of the Jews intensified. In 1936 A.D., Hitler took the Rhineland, Austria in 1938 A.D., and later also that year, Czechoslovakia. In 1936 A.D., Edith's mother died and her sister Rosa asked for baptism and wanted to live at the Cologne Carmel. In 1940 A.D., both Edith and Rosa (who was admitted as portress for the Carmelite nuns) were transferred to Carmel of Echt in Holland because Cologne Carmel was turning into a dangerous zone. On July 1, 1942 A.D., education of Catholic children of Jewish descent in Catholic schools were forbidden by the Nazis in Holland. The Dutch bishops protested. In retaliation, the Nazis ordered the deportation of all Catholics of Jewish descent. The Gestapo came to the Carmel and took both Edith and Rosa.

Edith and Rosa martyred

Edith and her sister Rosa were taken to three camps before finally ending up in Auschwitz. The SS doctor selected 295 persons he considered fit for work, while the rest, including Edith and Rosa, were driven in trucks to huts in the woods where they were told to shower and be deloused. Little did Edith and Rosa and their companions know that they will be killed by Zyklon B poison gas in the Auschwitz gas chambers. That was August 9, 1942 A.D.

Beatification and canonization

Edith Stein, philosopher, Jewess, Carmelite, martyr of the Holocaust, was beatified in 1987 A.D., and her canonization was performed by Pope John Paul II in 1998 A.D. John Paul II also declared St. Edith Stein as one of the six "patrons of Europe" in 1999 A.D. The Church celebrates her feast on August 9.

References of this article

• Dictionary of Saints, by John J. Delaney
• The Springs of Carmel, by Peter Slattery