St. Edith Stein

St. Edith Stein was born on October 12, 1891, in Breslau, Germany now Wrocław, Poland, into an observant Jewish family. Her early life saw her transition from Judaism to agnosticism by her teenage years. Edith's intellectual pursuits led her to study philosophy, becoming a pupil of Edmund Husserl and earning her doctorate from the University of Freiburg in 1916. Her experiences during World War I, including serving as a nursing assistant, deepened her quest for truth. In 1921, after reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Ávila, Edith converted to Catholicism and was baptized on January 1, 1922. She taught at a Jewish school and later lectured on women's issues before entering the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Cologne in 1933, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Due to the rising Nazi threat, she was transferred to Echt, Netherlands, where she wrote several philosophical works. Edith and her sister Rosa were arrested by the Gestapo in 1942 and sent to Auschwitz, where they died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942. Edith Stein was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987 and canonized as a martyr and saint on October 11, 1998. She is also a patron saint of Europe, celebrated for her unyielding pursuit of truth and her enduring legacy as a philosopher and spiritual writer.