There are other parts of Edith Stein\u2019s identity that should be held together with her ethnic Jewishness and her Catholic faith. I am here thinking especially of her scholarly passion. It is important to recognize that Edith Stein was one of the first women to aspire to a post-doctoral degree and to a career in academia in Germany, and that she did not leave behind that scholarly passion when she entered the Carmel in Cologne in 1933. Sr. Teresia Benedicta a Cruce (a name she chose for herself, with that particular spelling) embraced Carmelite religious life with all her scholarly skills in hand, and her Carmelite superiors knew to appreciate those skills. Against Carmelite conventions at the time, her Provincial explicitly permitted ongoing scholarly work for Sr. Teresa Benedicta, which she clearly delighted in as her letters from Carmel show. Her last book, a study of St. John of the Cross, was all but complete when she went to Auschwitz.<\/p>\n
That it is possible to venerate Edith Stein on August 9 with<\/em><\/strong> her fierce intellect is shown by the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. It remembers her as \u201cEdith Stein (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), Philosopher, Monastic, and Martyr 1942.\u201d That alone is a vast improvement over the conventional titles of \u201cvirgin and martyr\u201d in the Roman Catholic calendar. The Collect for her memorial in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer reads as follows:<\/p>\n Pour out your grace upon thy church, O God; that, like your servant Edith\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Stein, we may always seek what is true, defend what is right, reprove\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 what is evil, and forgive those who sin against us, even as your Son\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 commanded; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 and the Holy Spirit be all honor and glory, now and for ever.<\/em><\/p>\n This way of remembering and honoring Edith Stein \u2013 as a philosopher, monastic, and martyr \u2013 offers a vision of a future in which women scholars who also live holy lives are not shorn of their scholarly passion when the church officially recognizes their sanctity.<\/p>\n Early feminist \u25cf German Jewish philosopher \u25cf Catholic intellectual \u25cf Discalced Carmelite \u25cf victim of the Shoah \u25cf Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross \u25cf \u201cVirgin and Martyr\u201d — Ways of remembering Edith Stein are multiple, and they include sensitive terrain. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":62032,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[3119,362],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-plaza-new-ws","category-saints-mary"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/9-ES-1925-scaled.jpg\")