All the weight ” “” “

Edith Stein: holy martyr and Jewish sister, killed, presumably on 9 August 1942, in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, was declared co-patron of Europe by JOHN PAUL II on 1st October 1999, who explained his decision as follows: ” Declaring Edith Stein co-patron of Europe today means placing on the horizon of the Old Continent a banner of respect, tolerance and acceptance that invites men and women to understand and accept each other beyond all ethnic, cultural and religious diversities, to form a truly brotherly society”. Edith Stein was a European saint who made adoration and the Cross the most characteristic aspects of her holiness. And given that adoration will be at the centre of the next WYD, Edith Stein also represents an essential point of reference for the youth who will participate in the event in Cologne. Her life and work are recalled by two women who personally knew her: Elisabeth Krämer , one of her pupils at the time she was teaching at the Dominican Sisters’ school and teacher training college of St. Magdalen’s Convent in Speyer, in what is now Rhineland-Palatinate; and by Sister Teresia Margareta Drügemüller , novice at the time of the entry into the Carmel of Cologne of Edith Stein, the future Sister Teresa Benedict of the Cross, proclaimed a saint by John Paul II on 11 October 1998. DAUGHTER OF ISRAEL “Sister Benedict was conscious, albeit with the greatest modesty, of having been chosen as daughter of Israel. It was a consolation to know her, because she was completely dedicated to God and at the same time daughter of God’s chosen people. She was Jewish, but she always emphasized, “German Jew”, just as her mother and her family always called themselves “German Jews”. This consciousness conferred on Sister Teresa Benedict a great charism. […] Edith Stein, daughter of the people of Israel and German Jew, was born in Breslau on the day of Yom Kippur, the feast of atonement and forgiveness of the people of God. […] This great woman could be the source of reconciliation between Jews and Christians, so that both would recognize each other as sons and daughters of a single heavenly Father, and live by His love and His blessing”. THE CROSS. “The Cross of Christ inevitably formed part of the daily life of our Sister Teresa Benedict. She suffered deeply when she heard of the fate of her family, friends and acquaintances. In those years of the Nazi period [before 1938], hatred for the Jews was growing from day to day” […] For years [1941] she felt all the weight of the Cross upon her. The ideology of National Socialism, the misery in all its manifestations suffered by her Jewish people, the cruel war and the extreme poverty of the people deeply afflicted Sister Teresa Benedict. She had already foreseen the catastrophe years before, offering her life to God to prevent all this evil. Only from God did she hope for help, because she had grasped that in this situation human help was not enough” Adoration. “Dr. Edith Stein prayed a lot. In the morning, during Holy Mass, she had a place all of her own in the choir of the church. There was a prie-dieu close to the door to the sacristy; there she knelt. But not only during Mass, also on many other occasions, she often came there for adoration. Even at night she often spent hours there in adoration before the Most Holy Sacrament. A key of the church was always at her disposal in an agreed place. Her lessons were demanding, and she expected a lot from us too. It wasn’t just a simple transmission of knowledge: she brought with her into the classroom her deep faith in Christ” .