( 1891-1942)

Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, martyr, whose name was Edith Stein, was a convert Jew. She was gassed to death by the Nazis during World War II. She was born in Poland of Jewish parents. As a young woman she proclaimed herself  atheist.

Edith studied philosophy at the university under Edmund Husserl a philosopher who had influence in her life, with whom she did her doctorate degree, and for whom she worked. She was drawn to Catholic through Max Scheler , another philosopher, and Teresa of Avila whose her autobiography has profound effect on her. It is said that when she closed that book, she talked to herself, "This is the truth." Then ,she was baptized a Catholic on January 1, 1922.

After her doctorate she could not secure a position at a university. She taught in the Dominican sisters' high school. With Hitler in power, under the anti- Semitism escalation, she joined the Carmelites at Cologne in 1933, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. To escape the Nazi's persecution, she left for the Netherlands, where she wrote her major work, 'The Knowledge of the Cross'. Her fate was written: no escape. The Nazi government ordered that Christians who converted from Judaism be rounded up and sent to Poland. There, along with her sister 'Rosa' who was also a Christian convert from Judaism, were arrested on Aug. 2.1942. As they left the convent, she took Rosa's hand and said, "Come, Rosa, we are going for our people."

At Auschwitz, Edith was executed on August 9, 1942. In her spiritual last will and testament required of Carmelite nuns, she offered her life for "the sins of the unbelieving people so the Lord will be accepted by His own." She was beautified in Cologne in 1987, and canonized in Rome on Oct. 12, 1998. In 1999, Pope John Paul II named her a co-patron  saint of all of Europe, along with Bridget of Sweden, and Catherine of Siena.

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Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein] (1891-1942), Carmelite, Martyr, Co-patroness of Europe Exaltation of the Cross Obedient to the Father, following the Son “Your will be done!” That was the Savior’s entire life. He came into the world in order to do the Father’s will, not only to atone for the sin of disobedience through his obedience (Rom 5:19), but also to bring humankind back to their vocation on the path of obedience. It is not given to the creature to be free by being his own master; the creature is called to be in accord with God’s will. If he submits to it by his own free will, he is given free participation in the fulfillment of creation. If he refuses, the free creature also loses his freedom. The human person’s will still keeps its ability to decide freely, but he is under the charm of creatures who push and pull him in directions that take him away from developing his nature in the way God wants and that take him away from the goal that he had set himself in his original freedom. In addition to this original freedom, he loses steadiness in his resolution. He becomes changeable and indecisive, torn this way and that by doubts and scruples, or hardened in his aberration. There is no remedy for that other than the path of following Christ, the Son of Man, who not only immediately obeyed the heavenly Father, but who also submitted to men who showed him the Father’s will. Obedience as God wants it frees our will from being enslaved by all the bonds of creatures and brings it back to freedom. Thus it is also the path towards purity of heart. V V V Saint Theresia Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein], (1891-1942), Carmelite, Martyr, Co-patroness of Europe Das Weihnachtsgeheimnis, 1/31/1931 “It is not enough to say to me: ‘Lord, Lord’ … but you must do the will of my Father” Thy will be done.” In all its fullness, this act of abandonment must be the rule of Christian life. It must rule over the day, from morning to night, over the course of the year, over all of life. This must be the Christian’s only concern; all the others are taken care of by the Lord, but this one remains ours until our last day. That is an objective fact. We are not definitively assured of always remaining on the Lord’s path…  During our spiritual childhood, when we have just begun to let ourselves be led by God, we feel his strong and firm hand guiding us. We see in an obvious way what we must do and what we must not do. But it will not always be like that. The person who belongs to Christ must live Christ’s whole life. That person must ripen to the point of attaining Christ’s adult age, and one day must start out on the way of the cross… Thus united with Christ, the Christian will persevere even in the dark night… That is why, even and precisely in the midst of! the darkest night, “thy will be done.”   V V V Saint Theresia Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein], (1891-1942), Carmelite, Martyr, Co-patroness of Europe The Wedding of the Lamb, September 14, 1940 “Look! There is the Lamb of God.” In the Book of Revelation, the apostle John sees “a Lamb standing, a Lamb that had been slain.” (Rev 5:6)… On the banks of the Jordan, John the Baptist had called Jesus “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Then, the apostle John had understood this word, and now he understood the image. The one who previously had walked on the banks of the Jordan and who now had shown himself to him “wearing a white robe, with eyes that blazed like fire” and with the sword of the judge, he who is “the First and the Last” (Rev 1:13-17), had truly accomplished everything that the rites of the Old Covenant had sketched with symbols. When, on the holiest and most solemn day of the year, the high priest entered into the Holy of Holies, the place that was terribly holy because of the divine Presence, he had previously taken two rams: one on which to lay the sins of the people so that he would take them to the desert, the other so that his blood would be sprinkled o! n the tent and the ark of the covenant (Lev 16). He was the sacrifice that was offered for the sin of the people… Then the high priest sacrificed a burnt offering for himself and for all the people and burned all the remains of the sacrifice of reconciliation… That day of reconciliation was a solemn and holy day… But what had brought about the reconciliation? It was not the blood of the sacrificed animals, nor was it the high priest who was a descendant of Aaron, as Saint Paul said in his letter to the Hebrews (chapter 8-9). It was the ultimate sacrifice of reconciliation, the one that was prefigured in all the sacrifices prescribed by the Law, and this was the “high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” (Ps 110:4)… He was also the true paschal Lamb because of whom the exterminating angel passed by the houses of the Hebrews when he struck the Egyptians (Ex 12:23). The Lord himself let his disciples understand this when he ate the paschal lamb with them for t! he last time and then gave himself to them as their food.   V V V