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.
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I read a book a while back by Fr. James Martin about the Saints. He made the statement in it that he believed that Saints choose us, we don’t choose them.
This is exactly what happened to me when I chose my confirmation Saint, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. I had already chosen the confirmation name of Theresa because it is a family name: I had a great-great Aunt whose birth name was Theresa who joined the O.Carms, and another who also joined the O.Carms and her religious name was Teresita. So, I knew I wanted to take that name in honor of both of my great-great aunts who chose a religious life and were very pious, faithful women (they never ditched their habits, even after they were allowed to.) So, I figured I should learn more about all the different St. Teresas to see if there was one that I could call my BFF in Heaven. I bought a book called The Four Teresas by Gina Loehr and dug in.
St. Teresa of Avila ? Good, but maybe a bit too ambitious. Though I liked her worldly-to-pious conversion story.
St. Therese of Lisieux? Too popular, and a little too saccharine in general, though I could identify with the petulant child part of her personality.
Mother Teresa? Not touching that one with a stick.
And then I got to the fourth Teresa. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. A Saint that, previously, I had never heard of, though I consider myself to be a bit of a Saint nerd.
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross is also known as St. Edith Stein. She’s a virgin and martyr, but she’s a modern virgin and martyr, as she died under the Nazi regime in 1942. She was raised Jewish in Poland , but by the time she became a teenager was a full-blown atheist. She was a Truth seeker at heart, though, because her thirst to know things--as many things as she could-- lead her to earn her Doctorate in Philosophy,which was not a common thing for a woman to do in the early 20th century!! She encountered the Catholic faith after reading St. Teresa of Avila ’s The Interior Castle. The story goes that she was visiting some friends and found it on their bookshelf, she stayed up all night reading it, and when she was finished, she set the book down and said “This is Truth.” She finally went to a priest to become Catholic after studying everything she could get her hands on. When the priest asked her if 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 Discalced Carmelites, but her spiritual director wanted her to stay and teach and help to further the education of women in particular. Edith Stein was a very big advocate of women’s rights and equality saying “One could say that in case of need, every normal and healthy woman is able to hold a position. And there is no profession which cannot be practiced by a woman.” She taught at a Dominican school in Speyer , Germany Avila . She was moved to Echt , Netherlands Auschwitz along with her younger sister, Rosa, who also had converted and joined the convent on August 9, 1942 . She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987 and canonized in 2000.
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross’ life message was, in my opinion, “seek the Truth and you will find it.” As someone who encounters Faith on a very intellectual level, she is a wonderful patron Saint for me. I was able to identify with her hunger for knowledge and Truth and admired her open willingness to believe when she saw something that made her believe again. As a martyr, she gave everything in order to pursue Truth wherever it took her. I only pray that, in the same situation, I would be able to do the same.
Paige blogs at S’aint Easy (www.sainteasy.blogspot.com) where she likes to write about her search for Truth, particularly as it relates to the Catholic faith and her daily life. Re-written song lyrics are just a bonus.
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