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

St. John of the Cross, Doctor of Mystical Theology

On the life, writings and spirituality of St. John of the Cross, priest and doctor of the Church

St. John of the Cross, 1542-1591 A.D.: considered today to be the greatest mystical theologian in the history of the Church; he is known as the Doctor of Mystical Theology.

Biographical sketch

Juan de Yepes y Alvarez, popularly known as St. John of the Cross, was born at Fontiveros, Castile, Spain, in June 24, 1542 A.D. - the youngest of three children. He entered the Carmelites at Medina when he was 21 years old - taking the religious name John of Saint Matthias. In that monastery, he wanted to remain as a lay brother, but the Carmelites insisted that he become a priest. So he studied theology for three years in the University of Salamanca, and was ordained in 1567 A.D.

After St. John of the Cross was ordained, he was granted permission to follow the original rule of Albert of Vercelli (1209 A.D.) which stressed strict discipline and solitude. In 1568 A.D., the first Sunday of Advent, together with St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross opened the first monastery of the newly reformed Discalced Carmelites - whose members were committed to a perfect spirit of solitude, humility and mortification. [It was at this time that he changed his religious name from John of Saint Matthias to John of the Cross].

After founding the Discalced Carmelites Order, his reform activities angered some old Carmelites. They accused him of rebellion, and had him arrested and put in a small cell. But it was in this prison cell that he wrote two of his fine works: The Spiritual Canticle and The Living Flame of Love. St. John of the Cross was in prison only for nine months. He was able to escape and seek refuge in a monastery of El Calvario at Andalusia.

In 1579 A.D., St. John of the Cross became rector of the college at Baeza. Then in 1585 A.D., in the general chapter, he was elected the superior of the Discalced Carmelites.

Towards the end of his life, St. John of the Cross became ill. He died in December 14, 1591 A.D. at the age of 49 years old in a friary at Ubeda. His works were published after his death. This works included The Ascent of Mount Carmel and The Dark Night of the Soul. In December 14, 1675 A.D., St. John of the Cross was beatified by Pope Clement X. Canonization was by Pope Benedict XIII in December 14, 1726 A.D. And in December 14, 1926 A.D. he was declared doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XII.

Teaching and spirituality

St. John of the Cross was a great mystic, poet and writer. He tried to translate into language his mystical experience. He did this through poetry and his commentaries. The mystical experience of St. John of the Cross took him into the very depths of his being. St. Edith Stein, a modern Carmelite disciple of St. John of the Cross, said that "...it is through poetry that the soul is most adequately described..."

Through his own poetic genius, St. John of the Cross was able to recreate his experience of God in symbolism that evokes for others a taste of this experience. A most often used symbol is the heart which St. John of the Cross also used.

This symbol of the heart is represented in his poem "The Living Flame of Love". It can be found in the fourth and final stanza:

"How gently and lovingly
You wake in my heart
Where in secret You dwell alone;
And in your sweet breathing,
Filled with good and glory,
How tenderly You swell my heart with love!

St. John of the Cross is considered one of the classic sources of Catholic spirituality. John Paul II made a study on him and quotes him several times in Crossing the Threshold of Hope. The works and writings of St. John of the Cross are all representative of Biblical tradition, because he used the heart to symbolize a full range of inner human realities and activities. Through the symbol of the heart, St. John of the Cross explored the soul: what it is, what its capacities are, and what it does.

Excerpts from his writings

That heart symbolized the human heart that is attached to worldly things. To undertake the journey to God, the heart must be burned and purified of all creatures with the fire of divine love [The Ascent of Mount Carmel]


The soul, desiring to be possessed by this immense God, for love of whom she feels her heart is robbed and wounded, unable to endure her sickness any longer, deliberately asks Him in this stanza to show her His beauty...she makes this request by displaying before Him the sickness and yearning of her heart [The Spiritual Canticle]