Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
(Edith Stein)
Her life
« I am a poor Esther, powerless, but
the king who chose me is infinitely great and merciful.
It is a great consolation. »
(Letter of 31 October 1938)
Edith Stein, the Carmelite Teresa Benedict of the Cross, was born 12 October 1891 in Breslau ( Germany , now a Polish city) on the day of Yom Kippur in a Jewish family. The meaning of the Jewish celebration – “the Day of Expiation” – deeply marked his life, which culminated in martyrdom, 9 August 1942, following the deportation to the concentration camp of Auschwitz .
Gifted with an extraordinary intelligence, righteous living and a passion for the truth, she completed her studies in philosophy at Freiburg and Göttingen and, obtaining a doctorate in philosophy, she became an assistant professor of Edmund Husserl.
She passed from atheism to faith in Jesus Christ, stimulated by the encounter with other converts, but especially by reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, which she had providentially in her hands. She read the book without a break throughout the night, and, at dawn, a new light more powerful than the sun was lit in her heart, a light which shines in her forever. Here is where the truth is, she exclaimed. In fact, guided by the hand of Teresa, she met Christ whom she was never to leave.
Her Message
« … in the power of the Cross
you can be everywhere,
in all places of sorrow. »
Edith is a faithful exponent of contemporary man’s quest; her passage from unbelief to faith makes her close to all who seek the truth. In her experience this same searching was already a prayer.
She knew how to reconcile reason and faith, showing a healthy humanism. Her concern for women and her sense of the other, which she developed especially in her doctoral thesis on empathy, evidences a correct anthropology.
In terms of spirituality, despite her rich training, her great masters are the Carmelite saints, Teresa and John of the Cross and also Therese of Lisieux. These three left their imprint on the soul of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross: Prayer as the foundation of her life, the experience of the cross as the source of all action in the Church and trust and abandonment in God’s hands.
