Saint Edith Stein: Blessed by the Cross

Saint Edith Stein:Blessed by the Cross (Children's book) Mary Lea Hill, FSP After reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, Edith felt a strong pull toward the Catholic faith. She asked to be baptized, and on January 1, 1922, she became a Catholic. Her family and friends found it difficult to understand this decision. Edith became a leader in the Catholic Women's Movement. She taught in a school that was run by the Dominicans and translated some of St. Thomas Aquinas's writings. In 1934, she became a Discalced Carmelite in Cologne. Her new name as a nun was Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She continued to write, but most of her work could not be published at the time because she was a woman and because of her Jewish roots. As the Nazi party became stronger and more threatening, she was forced to escape to a Carmelite monastery in Holland. When Germany invaded Holland, many Catholics of Jewish heritage were arrested and deported to the concentration camps of Auschwitz. Ed