St. Edith Stein Feast Day: She found the truth in the Cross and love for Christ

On the occasion of the feast of the patron saint of our parish and co-patroness of Europe, St. Edith Stein, we celebrated the feast day on Sunday, August 9. Brothers from the Dismas prison fellowship came to us to celebrate Jesus in His martyrs together with our accused and convicted, and to mutually encourage each other in faith and perseverance.

Edith Stein, by her religious name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Oct 12, 1891 – † Aug 9, 1942, Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp), was a German-Jewish philosopher, Discalced Carmelite, martyr of the Catholic Church, declared a saint and a co-patroness of Europe.

Dr. Edith Stein, a Jewish philosopher, could have left Europe due to the persecution of Jews. In 1933, she wrote a letter to Pope Pius XI, asking the Vatican not to overlook the persecution of Jews and Catholics happening in Hitler's Germany. She converted and became a Carmelite nun.  Her writings testify to the Christian sacrifice she made for people of all faiths.

"The Problem of Empathy", was her 1917 dissertation, in which she focused mainly on the search for truth in life. At the end of her life, she wrote the works: The Science of the Cross and  a study on St. John of the Cross. She found that truth in the Cross and in love for Christ.

Only Christ is the Truth that unites knowledge and healing, love and sacrifice.