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Friday, 29 March 2024
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St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

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Edith Stein was born into a Jewish family in Breslau on 12 October 1891. She was very intelligent but as a teenager made a conscious decision to abandon prayer.

She obtained a Doctorate in philosophy. Her lifelong search for truth and the chance reading of the Autobiography of St Teresa of Avila brought her to the Catholic faith. Baptised in 1922 and after having continued her work and lecturing, she joined the Carmelite Monastery in Cologne, taking the name Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross in 1933.

During the Nazi persecution she was taken from the monastery in Echt in Holland just after the beginning of the evening hour of prayer. Her sister Rosa, who was living in the extern quarters was also taken and both were gassed at Auschwitz on 9 August 1942. Edith died a martyr having offered her life for the people of Israel.

 

70th Anniversary of her death
Pope: Martyrs are witnesses that God is Love