Description

Oil Dedicated to St Edith Stein 2 (Patron for the Converted)

St Edith Stein 2 (Patron for the Converted) from A Blessed Call To Love, Ireland.

Edith Stein, also known as St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Catholicism and later became a Discalced Carmelite nun. She was born into an observant Jewish family but declared herself an atheist by her teenage years. However, after studying philosophy and phenomenology extensively under teachers like Edmund Husserl, she read the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, experienced a profound spiritual transformation, and converted to Catholicism.

She entered the Carmelite monastery in Cologne, Germany, in 1934 and took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. However, her peaceful monastic life threatened by the rise of Nazi power in Germany. Given the danger, she transferred to a monastery in the Netherlands, where she hoped to avoid persecution. Unfortunately, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands, and in 1942, she and her sister Rosa, who had also converted and serving in the monastery, captured and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where they killed.

Edith Stein was beatified as a martyr in 1987 and canonized as a saint in 1998 by Pope John Paul II. Her feast day celebrated on August 9. She has adopted as a patron saint of Europe by the Catholic Church. Her life and work symbolize not only a commitment to faith and the cause of women’s rights but also the power of conversion. While you referred to her as the “Patron for the Converted,” it should noted that patronages in Catholic tradition often have regional and historical context, and multiple saints can associated with the same cause.