Getting to know St. Edith Stein

Gas Chambers.  All I could think about how tortured she might have felt as she lost her last breath inside those awful gas chambers.  As I get to read a snippet of this saint's life, I have come to admire her courage and her strength.

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, her religion name, was born in Breslau, Poland in 1891.  Now Poland gets to interest me a lot that I want to go and live there for a while. Born Jewish and an atheist, it was said that St. Edith was an outstanding student who is so into Philosophy and has a major interest in phenomenology.  Now what the heck is phenomenology?  Remind me to take a look of that subject later.  Because of her reading on the life of St. Teresa of Avila, she became interested in the Catholic Faith. Her interest in the faith really became so serious that it caused her conversion.  She was then  baptized on the year of 1922 at the Cathedral of Cologne in Germany.

Because of her love for God, she entered the Carmel Convent in Cologne Germany.  And because of the ramifications at that time, she was transferred to Holland.  But then, these Nazis conquered Holland.  And together with her sister, which is named Rose, they were arrested and placed in a concentration camp.  In there, I believe, St. Edith placed her life in the hands of God through prayer, fasting and dedication.  1942 marks the end of St. Edith's life as she was placed in the gas chambers in Auschwitz.  She was 51.  She was later canonized as Saint by Pope John Paul II on October 11, 1998.

From wiki, it was said that "The miracle which was the basis for her canonization was the cure of Teresa Benedicta McCarthy, a little girl who had swallowed a large amount of paracetamol which causes hepatic necrosis in small children. Her father, Rev. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy, a Melkite Catholic, immediately rounded up relatives and prayed for Edith Stein's intercession. Shortly thereafter the nurses in the intensive care unit saw her sit up completely healthy."

"As a child of the Jewish people who, by the grace of God, for the past eleven years has also been a child of the Catholic Church, I dare to speak to the Father of Christianity about that which oppresses millions of Germans. For weeks we have seen deeds perpetrated in Germany which mock any sense of justice and humanity, not to mention love of neighbor. For years the leaders of National Socialism have been preaching hatred of the Jews. But the responsibility must fall, after all, on those who brought them to this point and it also falls on those who keep silent in the face of such happenings."

Everything that happened and continues to happen on a daily basis originates with a government that calls itself "Christian." For weeks not only Jews but also thousands of faithful Catholics in Germany, and, I believe, all over the world, have been waiting and hoping for the Church of Christ to raise its voice to put a stop to this abuse of Christ’s name." —Edith Stein, Letter to Pope Pius XI.

It was great knowing you St. Edith Stein.   Pray for us.