Edith Stein Research Paper

Edith Stein, also known as “St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross” was a caring, compassionate and humble saint. But, unfortunately it wasn’t always like that for her. She was raised in a Jewish family with a strong religious belief. In her early teenage years, she easily passed her final exams and threw away a life with God and became an atheist to take up her passion of philosophy and women's issues. She then later transferred universities to study under the mentorship of Edmund Husserl. Husserl's phenomenology led many of his students to the Christian faith. She also met a philosopher by the name of Max Scheler, who redirected her attention to Roman Catholicism. In 1917 Edith went to Frankfurt Cathedral and saw something that shocked her, a woman kneeling down praying. This was

Edith’s first encounter with the Christian church in years. Later that year Stein got the news that one of her good friend husband passed away in Flanders field. She went to his window where he laid, she felt nervous at first but was shocked when she came across a woman of faith.

Edith said, "This was my first encounter with the Cross and the divine power it imparts to those who bear it ... it was the moment when my unbelief collapsed and Christ began to shine his light on me - Christ in the mystery of the Cross." This was the first time she acknowledged her faith in years. She later realized that God had a plan for her. She stated that, "Things were in God's plan which I had not planned at all. I am coming to the living faith and conviction that - from God's point of view - there is no chance and that the whole of my life, down to every detail, has been mapped out in God's divine providence and makes complete and perfect sense in God's all-seeing eyes." In late 1918 Edith gave up her job with Husserl to work independently. The next time she saw Husserl was in 1930, when she discussed about faith and how she wanted him to become a Christian also. She then told him, "Every time I feel my powerlessness and inability to influence people directly, I become more keenly aware of the necessity of my own holocaust." On January 1st 1922 Edith was

baptised. Edith said "I had given up practising my Jewish religion when I was a 14-year-old girl and did not begin to feel Jewish again until I had returned to God." From this day on Edith was aware and proud that she belonged to Christ, not only spiritually but through blood. After this she had a conversation and was confirmed by the Bishop of Speyer in his chapel privately. She then went back to Breslau to tell her mother that she was now Catholic. Instantly after her conversation with her mother she wanted to join a Carmelite convent. Nonetheless her spiritually mentors stopped her from doing that. So, until 1931 she was teaching history and German at Dominican Sisters' school. While she was working there she was encouraged to speak out about woman’s issues. In 1932 she left her job and accepted a lectureship position at the “Roman Catholic division of the German Institute for Educational Studies”. She combined education and faith in her work and teaching. But unfortunately in 1933 something awful happened in Germany. Edith said “I had heard of severe measures against Jews before. But now it dawned on me that God had laid his hand heavily on His people, and that the destiny of these people would also be mine." The Aryan Law of the Nazis made it almost impossible for Edith to continue teaching, so she left Germany. She had now committed to becoming a Carmelite convent. In 1933 she met with the prioress of the Carmelite Convent and took a vow of poverty, chastity and obedience. In 1934 she became a part of the Carmelite Convent of Cologne. From that day forward she was known as “Sister Teresia Benedicta a Cruce - Teresa, Blessed of the Cross.”