Edith Stein facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Teresia Benedicta a Cruce
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Teresia Benedicta a Cruce in 1938–39
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| Born | 12 October 1891 |
| Died | 9 August 1942 (aged 50) Auschwitz-Birkenau, Gau Upper Silesia, German-occupied Poland
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| Cause of death | Execution by poisonous gas |
| Nationality | German |
| Education | Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität University of Göttingen University of Freiburg (PhD, 1916) |
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Notable work
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| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Continental philosophy Phenomenology Thomism Carmelite spirituality |
| Institutions | University of Freiburg (1916–1918) |
| Thesis | Das Einfühlungsproblem in seiner historischen Entwicklung und in phänomenologischer Betrachtung (The Empathy Problem as it Developed Historically and Considered Phenomenologically) (1916) |
| Doctoral advisor | Edmund Husserl |
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Main interests
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Metaphysics, phenomenology, philosophy of mind and epistemology |
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Notable ideas
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Influences
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Influenced
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Edith Stein (religious name Saint Teresia Benedicta a Cruce, also known as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross; born October 12, 1891 – died August 9, 1942) was a German philosopher. She was born into a Jewish family but later became a Christian and joined a group of nuns called the Discalced Carmelites.
She is honored as a martyr (someone who dies for their faith) and a saint in the Catholic Church. She is also one of the six patron saints of Europe.
Edith grew up in a Jewish family. However, by her teenage years, she became an agnostic, meaning she wasn't sure if God existed. During World War I, she helped as a nursing assistant in a hospital. After finishing her PhD in philosophy in 1916, she worked as an assistant at the University of Freiburg.
Later, after reading about Teresa of Ávila, a famous Carmelite nun, Edith became interested in Christianity. She was baptized into the Catholic Church on January 1, 1922. She wanted to become a nun right away, but her spiritual guide advised her to wait. Instead, she taught at a Catholic school in Speyer. In 1933, the Nazi government made a rule that Jewish people could not be civil servants, so she had to stop teaching.
On October 14, 1933, Edith joined the Carmelite monastery in Cologne. In April 1934, she officially became a novice (a new member) and took the name Teresia Benedicta a Cruce. This name honored Teresa of Ávila and Benedict of Nursia. She made her final vows as a nun in April 1938.
Later that year, Edith and her sister Rosa, who had also become a Christian, moved to a Carmelite monastery in Echt, Netherlands, for safety. However, on August 2, 1942, the Gestapo (Nazi secret police) arrested all baptized Catholics of Jewish background in the Netherlands. Edith and Rosa were among them. They were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where they were killed on August 9, 1942.
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Early Life and Education
Edith Stein was born in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland). She was the youngest of 11 children in an observant Jewish family. She was born on Yom Kippur, a very holy day in the Jewish calendar. This made her mother feel she was special.
Edith was a very smart child who loved to learn. Her mother encouraged her children to think deeply. Even though her father died when she was young, her mother made sure Edith received a good education. Edith went to study at the Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Breslau.
In 1919, her mother bought a house in Breslau, where Edith later lived. Today, this house is a museum dedicated to the Stein family.
Becoming a Philosopher
In April 1913, Edith went to the University of Göttingen to study philosophy. She decided to get her doctoral degree (PhD) in philosophy. Her main topic was "empathy" – understanding and sharing the feelings of others.
Her studies were interrupted in July 1914 when World War I started. In 1915, she volunteered as a Red Cross nurse in a hospital. In 1916, she moved to the University of Freiburg to finish her dissertation on empathy. She earned her doctorate with the highest honors.
Afterward, Edith became a teaching assistant to her professor, Edmund Husserl, at Freiburg. She worked there until 1918. Even though she was a brilliant student, she was not allowed to become a professor. At that time, it was very difficult for women to get such positions in universities.
Her rejected thesis, which was about the foundations of psychology and human sciences, was published in 1922.
From Philosophy to Faith
Edith had some contact with Catholicism earlier in her life. But it was reading the autobiography of Teresa of Ávila in 1921 that deeply moved her. This led her to convert to Christianity and want to become a Carmelite nun.
She was baptized on January 1, 1922. Her spiritual advisors told her not to join the monastery right away. So, from 1923 to 1931, she taught at a Dominican nuns' school in Speyer. During this time, she translated a work by Thomas Aquinas, an important Catholic philosopher. She also tried to connect her earlier philosophical ideas with Catholic philosophy.
In 1932, she became a lecturer in Münster. However, the Nazi government passed laws against Jewish people. This forced her to resign from her job in 1933.
Edith wrote a letter to Pope Pius XI to speak out against the Nazi regime. She told him about the terrible things happening to Jewish people in Germany. She asked the Pope to openly condemn the Nazis' actions. She believed that the Nazis' hatred went against Christian values.
Her letter did not receive a direct answer. However, in 1937, the Pope did publish an important letter called Mit brennender Sorge (meaning "With deep anxiety"). In this letter, he criticized Nazism and its actions.
Becoming a Carmelite Nun and Martyr
In October 1933, Edith joined the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Cologne. She took the religious name Teresia Benedicta a Cruce (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross). While in Cologne, she wrote a book about philosophy called Finite and Eternal Being.
To escape the growing Nazi threat, Edith and her sister Rosa, who had also converted to Catholicism, were moved. They went to a Carmelite monastery in Echt, Netherlands. There, Edith wrote another book about John of the Cross, another famous Carmelite saint.
In her will, written in 1939, she offered her life and death for peace. She prayed for her religious order, for the Jewish people, for Germany, and for world peace.
Edith believed she would not survive the war. She even started preparing herself for life in a concentration camp. She practiced enduring cold and hunger.
Sadly, she was not safe in the Netherlands. On July 20, 1942, the Dutch Bishops' Conference spoke out against Nazi racism. In response, on August 2, 1942, the Nazis arrested all Jewish converts in the Netherlands. Edith and her sister Rosa were among the 243 people arrested.
They were sent to the Amersfoort and then to Westerbork. A Dutch official at Westerbork offered Edith a chance to escape. But she refused, saying she wanted to share the fate of her fellow Jewish people.
On August 7, 1942, Edith, Rosa, and many others were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. It is believed that on August 9, 1942, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, her sister Rosa, and many other Jewish people were killed.
Edith Stein's Ideas
Edith Stein's philosophical journey can be seen in three main parts. First, she focused on phenomenology, a way of studying how we experience things. Second, she compared different philosophies, especially her own with the ideas of Thomas Aquinas. Third, after becoming a nun, her work became deeply Christian.
Her early work focused on "empathy." She wanted to understand how we truly grasp the feelings and experiences of others. She believed this was key to understanding how people relate to each other and how society works.
Later, she explored how her philosophical ideas connected with Christian beliefs. She tried to combine the ideas of her teacher, Husserl, with the teachings of Thomas Aquinas. She also wrote about what it means to be a human being, looking at it from both a philosophical and a religious point of view.
Her final work, The Science of the Cross, was a deep look into the spiritual teachings of John of the Cross. She explored the idea of the soul's journey and its connection to God, especially through suffering.
Legacy and Honor
| Saint Teresia Benedicta a Cruce OCD |
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| Virgin and martyr | |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church Anglican Communion |
| Beatified | 1 May 1987, Cologne, Germany by Pope John Paul II |
| Canonized | 11 October 1998, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II |
| Feast | 9 August |
| Attributes | Discalced Carmelite nun's habit (sometimes with a Yellow badge), cross, a book or scroll with Hebrew letters, burning bush, martyr's palm |
| Patronage | Europe; loss of parents; converted Jews; martyrs; World Youth Day |
Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was declared a "blessed" (beatified) as a martyr on May 1, 1987, by Pope John Paul II in Cologne, Germany. She was then declared a "saint" (canonized) by him on October 11, 1998, in Rome.
A miracle was recognized for her canonization. A young girl named Benedicta McCarthy became very sick after swallowing too much medicine. Her father, a priest, prayed for Teresa Benedicta's help. Soon after, the girl recovered completely, which doctors could not explain. This recovery was seen as a miracle.
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross is one of the six patron saints of Europe. Other patron saints include Benedict of Nursia and Catherine of Siena.
Many schools and places are named after her today. These include schools in her hometown, Lubliniec, Poland, and in Germany and the Netherlands. A dormitory at the University of Tübingen and a building at The College of the Holy Cross are also named for her.
There are museums dedicated to Edith Stein. One is in Lubliniec, Poland, in her grandparents' family home. Another is in Wrocław, Poland, in the house her mother bought for the family.
In Vienna, Austria, the Edith-Stein-Haus is a center for Catholic university students. It has a chapel dedicated to her and a dormitory for students.
The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre wrote a book about Edith Stein in 2006. He compared her life and ideas to those of Martin Heidegger.
A play called Edith Stein was written by Arthur Giron in 1988. A Hungarian film about her life, A hetedik szoba, was made in 1995. In 2018, an American film called A Rose in Winter was also made about her.
In 1999, a memorial statue of Edith Stein was placed in Cologne, Germany. It shows different parts of her life and faith. It also includes a pile of empty shoes, representing the victims of the Holocaust.
In 2008, the first Stolperstein (a small memorial plaque) in Poland was placed near Edith Stein's childhood home in Wrocław. Other Stolpersteine for her are in Cologne and Freiburg, Germany.
In 2009, her bust (a sculpture of her head and shoulders) was placed in the Walhalla Memorial in Germany. This is a hall of fame for important German figures. Also in 2009, a group was formed to study her philosophical writings.
On June 6, 2014, a bell dedicated to her was named by Prince Charles at Bayeux Cathedral. In 2022, Edith Stein was officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar. Her feast day is August 9.
Images for kids
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Memorial to Edith Stein in Stella Maris Monastery, Haifa, Israel
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The Martyrdom of Edith Stein depicted in a stained glass work by Alois Plum, in Kassel, Germany
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Memorial to Edith Stein in Prague, Czech Republic
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Edith Stein in a relief by Heinrich Schreiber in the Church of Our Lady in Wittenberg, Germany
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Sculpture near her baptismal church in Bad Bergzabern
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Stolperstein for Edith Stein at the location of the former Carmelite monastery in Köln-Lindenthal
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See also
In Spanish: Edith Stein para niños
- St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross OCD, patron saint archive
