ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST
Saints celebrated on the 9th of August
SAINT TERESA BENEDICTA OF THE CROSS, VIRGIN AND MARTYR
August 9 is the feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), virgin and martyr, a Jewish convert to Catholicism, who later became a Discalced Carmelite nun and was martyred at Auschwitz.
THE YOUNGEST CHILD OF A LARGE FAMILY
Edith Stein, born in 1891 in Breslau, now Poland, was the youngest child of a large Jewish family. She was an outstanding student and was well versed in philosophy with a particular interest in phenomenology. Eventually she became interested in the Catholic Faith, and in 1922, she was baptised at the Cathedral Church in Cologne, Germany. Eleven years later Edith entered the Cologne Carmel.
SHE WAS SENT TO THE CARMEL AT ECHT, HOLLAND
Because of the ramifications of politics in Germany, Edith, whose name in religion was Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, was sent to the Carmel at Echt, Holland. When the Nazis conquered Holland, Teresa was arrested, and, with her sister Rose, was sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Teresa died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz in 1942 at the age of fifty-one.
A LIGHT UNDIMMED
In 1987, she was beatified by Pope John Paul II. Out of the unspeakable human suffering caused by the Nazis in western Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, there blossomed the beautiful life of dedication, consecration, prayer, fasting, and penance of Saint Teresa. Even though her life was snuffed out by the satanic evil of genocide, her memory stands as a light undimmed in the midst of evil, darkness, and suffering. She was canonised on October 11, 1998.
Courtesy of “St William of York”
PRAYER:
Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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