Edith Stein (1891-1942) var en jødisk filosof som ble katolikk, senere også karmelitt-søster og til slutt led martyrdøden i Auschwitz.
Historien om hennes omvendelse sier vanligvis at hun leste Teresa av Avilas selvbiografi; hun leste hele natten, og da morgenen kom visste hun at hun måtte bli en katolikk. Karmelittpresten Ulrich Dobhan sier nå at bakgrunnen for hennes omvendelse er mer sammensatt. (Edith Stein er en helgen som kan gripe også de unge i vår tid, og senest sist søndag fortalte jeg hennes historie til konfirmantene i vår menighet.)
«During the summer semester of 1918, during Husserl’s lectures at the University of Freiberg on the subject of Rudolf Otto’s book, ‘Das Heilige,’ Edith probably read Teresa of Avila’s name because it’s mentioned in that book.» Later, on May 24 or 25, 1921, at the house of Anne Reinach and her sister-in-law Pauline, in Goettingen, Germany, Stein chose the autobiographical volume: «Life of St. Teresa of Avila» from their library.
The reading of St. Teresa’s book was decisive in tipping Stein toward Catholicism instead of Protestantism, but Father Dobhan wants to clarify that «here we are not talking about the step from atheism to Christianity.»
«The exclamation of ‘This is the Truth!’ that is generally put in the mouth of Stein upon reading the autobiography of the saint, does not correspond to what she said, nor does it reflect Stein’s spiritual process,» Father Dobhan clarified.
Stein’s inquiry into Christianity had been maturing over time. As a philosopher, she was profoundly influenced by the work of Max Scheler during his Catholic period and the heroic witness of Anne Reinach, widow of fellow philosopher Adolf Reinach, who fell in the war in November 1917.
While not the sole source of her conversion, the book did lead to her decision to become a Carmelite, where upon entering she took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was canonized by Pope John Paul II in October 1998, and made a co-patroness of Europe in October 1999.