“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2, 2). Paul’s self-confession to the Church of Corinth eloquently brings to mind the life of Saint Edith Stein, a Jewish-Christian discalced Carmelite nun, martyred in the gas chambers at Auschwitz on 9 August 1942.

Her religious name, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, depicts the Cross as her enduring spiritual heritage. The latter frequently features both in her entire life and works. As an acclaimed Jewish philosopher and brilliant writer, Edith had an insatiable thirst for truth. Later on in her life she admitted: “My longing for truth was a single prayer.” When in summer of 1921 she spent several weeks in Bergzaben (in the Palatinate) one evening she was captivated by an autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila. In one night she read the whole opus! Upon finishing it she exclaimed: “This is the truth!”

Her first meeting with the Cross goes back to her visit in Göttingen in November 1917 to Adolf Reinach’s widow. This meeting left a deep spiritual mark in Edith’s soul. Edith was impressed by the ardent faith of Reinach’s widow. She wrote: “This was my first encounter with the Cross and the divine power it imparts to those who bear it... it was the moment when my unbelief collapsed and Christ began to shine his light on me – Christ in the mystery of the Cross.”

Following her conversion and baptism on 1 January 1922, Edith continued with her teaching career until she joined the Carmelite Convent of Cologne on 14 October 1933. Her investiture occurred on 15 April 1934. Edith Stein’s name was now changed to Sister Teresia a Cruce, Teresa, Blessed of the Cross. In 1938 she wrote: “I understood the Cross as the destiny of God’s people, which was beginning to be apparent at the time (1933). I felt that those who understood the Cross of Christ should take it upon themselves on everybody’s behalf. Of course, I know better now what it means to be wedded to the Lord in the sign of the Cross. However, one can never comprehend it, because it is a mystery.”

After taking her temporary vows on 21 April 1935 she actually renewed them on 14 September 1936, the feast of the Holy Cross. This date also coincided with her mother’s death in Breslau. “My mother held on to her faith to the last moment. But as her faith and her firm trust in her God... were the last thing that was still alive in the throes of her death, I am confident that she will have met a very merciful judge and that she is now my most faithful helper, so that I can reach the goal as well.” Her mother’s constant intercession before God’s throne made her realise more the saving effect of the Cross in her consecrated vocation. In fact, when she made her eternal profession on 21 April 1938, she purposely chose the words of Saint John of the Cross that were printed on her devotional picture: “Henceforth my only vocation is to love.” Her conclusive work was to be devoted to this author.

In 1941, she wrote to a Carmelite sister and friend: “One can only gain a scientia crucis (knowledge of the cross) if one has thoroughly experienced the cross. I have been convinced of this from the first moment onwards and have said with all my heart: Ave, Crux, Spes unica (I welcome you, Cross, our only hope).”

Her last audible recorded words in Echt show her sacrificial love for her Jewish people: “Come, we are going for our people.”

■ Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap

San Ġwann