St. Edith Stein

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As a part of #40daysofsaints, we have a guest post about St. Edith Stein from Paige. Paige blogs over at S'aint Easy. For more about Paige, check out her blog and mini bio at the bottom of this post.---I read a book a while back by Fr. James Martin about theSaints. He made the statement in it that he believed that Saints choose us, wedon’t choose them. sourceThis is exactly what happened to me when I chose myconfirmation Saint, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. I had already chosen theconfirmation name of Theresa because it is a family name: I had a great-greatAunt whose birth name was Theresa who joined the O.Carms, and another who alsojoined the O.Carms and her religious name was Teresita. So, I knew I wanted totake that name in honor of both of my great-great aunts who chose a religiouslife and were very pious, faithful women (they never ditched their habits, evenafter they were allowed to.) So, I figured I should learn more about all thedifferent St. Teresas to see if there was one that I could call my BFF inHeaven. I bought a book called The Four Teresas by Gina Loehr and dugin.
St. Teresa of Avila?Good, but maybe a bit too ambitious. Though I liked her worldly-to-piousconversion story. St. Therese of Lisieux? Too popular, and a little toosaccharine in general, though I could identify with the petulant child part ofher personality.Mother Teresa? Not touching that one with a stick.
And then I got to the fourth Teresa. St. Teresa Benedicta ofthe Cross. A Saint that, previously, I had never heard of, though I considermyself to be a bit of a Saint nerd.
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross is also known as St. EdithStein. She’s a virgin and martyr, but she’s a modern virgin and martyr, as shedied under the Nazi regime in 1942. She was raised Jewish in Poland, but bythe time she became a teenager was a full-blown atheist. She was a Truth seekerat heart, though, because her thirst to know things--as many things as shecould-- lead her to earn her Doctorate in Philosophy,which was not a commonthing for a woman to do in the early 20^th century!! She encounteredthe Catholic faith after reading St. Teresa of Avila’s The Interior Castle. The storygoes that she was visiting some friends and found it on their bookshelf, shestayed up all night reading it, and when she was finished, she set the bookdown and said “This is Truth.” She finally went to a priest to become Catholicafter studying everything she could get her hands on. When the priest asked herif she knew what it meant to be Baptized, she told him some form of “quiz me.”She was received into the Church in 1922. She wanted to join the DiscalcedCarmelites, but her spiritual director wanted her to stay and teach and help tofurther the education of women in particular. Edith Stein was a very bigadvocate of women’s rights and equality saying “One could say that in case ofneed, every normal and healthy woman is able to hold a position. And there isno profession which cannot be practiced by a woman.” She taught at a Dominicanschool in Speyer, Germany until she was no longerallowed to do so because of the political climate. She then joined theCarmelites, following her spiritual leader, St. Teresa of Avila. She was moved to Echt, Netherlandsto keep her safe, until 1940 when the Nazis invaded. They had been denounced bythe Dutch Bishops and so rounded up all Jews who had converted to Christianityand sent them to the concentration camps. Edith Stein died at Auschwitzalong with her younger sister, Rosa, who also had converted and joined theconvent on August 9, 1942.She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987 and canonized in 2000. sourceSt. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross’ life message was, in myopinion, “seek the Truth and you will find it.” As someone who encounters Faithon a very intellectual level, she is a wonderful patron Saint for me. I wasable to identify with her hunger for knowledge and Truth and admired her openwillingness to believe when she saw something that made her believe again. As amartyr, she gave everything in order to pursue Truth wherever it took her. Ionly pray that, in the same situation, I would be able to do the same.  ---Paige blogs at S’aintEasy (www.sainteasy.blogspot.com)where she likes to write about her search for Truth, particularly as it relatesto the Catholic faith and her daily life. Re-written song lyrics are just abonus.