It is popular these days to dismiss the idea of good and evil as the nonsense of another age. But evil exists. Our tendency is to think of evil as something far away. Until one day you turn the corner and there it is, and your life will never be the same.

The sad and tragic truth is that evil is never far away.

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, experienced this truth firsthand in one of the most evil atrocities in all of human history.

Edith Stein was born into a devout Jewish family in Germany, on October 12, 1891. She was an intellectually gifted child who, by her adolescence, declared herself an atheist.

Her journey into academia led her to the University of Göttingen, where she completed her doctorate on the topic of empathy, which only became more important in her later religious vocation. Her conversion to Catholicism in 1922 was sparked by an encounter with the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, which revealed to her that intellectual pursuits and spirituality could go hand in hand.

As Nazism spread across Germany, Edith's dual identity as a Jew and a Catholic placed her in the crosshairs of escalating persecution. She didn’t back down. Instead, she entered the Carmelite convent in 1933, adopting the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.

The escalation of World War II forced Teresa Benedicta and her sister Rosa, also a convert, to relocate to a Carmelite monastery in the Netherlands for safety. But when a Dutch Bishop publicly condemned Nazi policies, the Gestapo retaliated by arresting Teresa and her sister and bringing them to Auschwitz. 

One of the officials at Auschwitz was so impressed by Teresa Benedicta’s peace and spiritual strength that he offered to help her escape. This was her response: “If somebody intervened at this point and took away my chance to share in the fate of my brothers and sisters, that would be utter annihilation.”

Teresa Benedicta, her sister Rosa, and many others were executed in a gas chamber on August 9, 1942.

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross never doubted the existence of good and evil. She chose the good, clung to the good, and brought the good to others in the worst of circumstances. Her life challenged the depths of evil with the profound power of faith and sacrifice.



Feast Day: August 9

Feast Day Shared By: Saint Roman

Patron Saint of: Europe, Loss of Parents, Converted Jews, and Martyrs

Also Known As: Edith Stein

Canonized: October 11, 1998

Canonized By: Pope John Paul II