City names 2022 the Year of Edith Stein to mark 100 years since her baptism

Courtney Mares   By Courtney Mares for CNA

January 19, 2022 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 1 Print

 

Edith Stein, pictured as a student in 1913-1914. / Public Domain.

Rome Newsroom, Jan 19, 2022 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Edith Stein’s baptism in the Catholic Church.

The city where the philosopher turned saint was born has launched a Year of Edith Stein to celebrate the life and legacy of the woman who was martyred at Auschwitz.

Stein was born in 1891 into a Jewish family in what is now Wrocław, southwestern Poland. The city was then known as Breslau and located in the German Empire.

After declaring herself to be an atheist at the age of 20, she went on to earn a doctorate in philosophy.

She decided to convert to Catholicism after spending a night reading the autobiography of the 16th-century Carmelite nun St. Teresa of Avila while staying at a friend’s house in 1921.

“When I had finished the book,” she later recalled. “I said to myself: This is the truth.”

Stein was baptized on Jan. 1, 1922, at the age of 30. She took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross when she became a novice Carmelite nun 12 years later.

Wrocław Auxiliary Bishop Jacek Kiciński inaugurated the year on Jan. 9, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, in the parish church where Stein used to come to pray.

“We look today at St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Edith Stein. One hundred years ago she was baptized and 100 years ago she was immersed in the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Kiciński said.

“Coming out of the baptismal waters, she took very strongly to heart the words from today’s Gospel: ‘This is my beloved Son, listen to him.’”

Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), pictured in 1938-1939. Public Domain.
Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), pictured in 1938-1939. Public Domain.

Ten years after Stein entered the Carmelite convent, she was arrested along with her sister Rosa, who had also become a Catholic, and the members of her religious community.

She had just finished writing a study of St. John of the Cross entitled “The Science of the Cross.”

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross died in the Auschwitz concentration camp on Aug. 9, 1942. Pope John Paul II canonized her in 1998 and proclaimed her a co-patroness of Europe a year later.

To mark the year, the city council of Wrocław has also set up an exhibit in the Edith Stein House, the saint’s family home which is now a conference center and a space for interreligious dialogue.

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Catholic communities in Burkina Faso ‘constantly living in fear’ 

September 5, 2024 Catholic News Agency 0
Worshippers attend a mass at Ouagadougou’s Catholic cathedral on June 12, 2022, in Burkina Faso. The country has been grappling with Islamist terrorism since 2015 and Christian communities live in fear of furhter attacks. / Credit: OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT/AFP via Getty Images

ACI Africa, Sep 5, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Two Catholic priests serving in the West African nation of Burkina Faso have spoken about the threats that terrorist groups pose to Christians in the country, saying the people of God there live in constant fear.

In a Sept. 2 press conference organized by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International, Father Bertin Namboho, diocesan financial administrator of the Diocese of Nouna, and Father Jean-Pierre Koné, a parish priest in Tansila, shared their personal experiences in the country that has been grappling with Islamist terrorism since 2015.

“Since the onset of these attacks, we have witnessed our community being torn apart. The terrorists have blocked our city, destroying essential services. There is no electricity, no water, and the health system is reduced to a minimum. The situation is critical,” Namboho lamented.

“We now have about 5,000 people in our city who have fled from the villages. They have lost everything. Their husbands and fathers have been killed or disappeared, and we are struggling to provide for their basic needs,” he said.

The economic toll on the western town of Nouna is equally devastating, he said, adding that the destruction of infrastructure has disrupted local commerce, leaving residents without access to banks and essential services.

“The entire city has been under siege, with no access to food or medical supplies. The situation is extremely difficult for everyone,” the priest said. 

He recounted his personal experiences with the terrorists, saying that various encounters have instilled in him “profound fear.”

“During my travels for the church’s work, I have faced armed groups who question and threaten us. I was with nuns, and we were stopped and searched. It is terrifying to face such hostility and know that priests have been kidnapped and killed,” he recounted, adding: “We are constantly living in fear, unsure if we will survive each day.”

For his part, Koné, who has been serving in Tansila parish since October 2022, spoke about the escalation of violence across Burkina Faso over the years. 

Upon arriving in the town of Tansila, also in the western part of the country, Koné found the region already facing severe security challenges, he said. “The situation was tense from the beginning, but it has worsened progressively. The terrorists have targeted and destroyed all communication networks, cutting us off from the rest of the country.”

Koné recalled the devastating impact of the terrorists’ attacks on April 15, 2023, when more than 200 militants stormed Tansila. 

“They arrived in the evening and attacked the town with such force that residents had no time to gather their belongings. They looted everything — food, money, and even transportation means,” Koné recounted. 

He continued: “The destruction was immense. Our church, presbytery, and all our religious artifacts were vandalized. We returned to find everything in ruins.”

The psychological and spiritual impact of these attacks, he said, have been “profound.”

“The destruction of our church feels like the loss of our religious identity. It is as though we have been stripped of our dignity and our faith. The pain is not just physical but deeply spiritual. It raises questions about where God is in the midst of such suffering.”

Koné also spoke about the impact of the terrorist attacks on the local population, who he said is grappling with the loss of loved ones and the destruction of homes and livelihoods. 

“We celebrated a dark Christmas last year,” he said during the ACN press conference. “The attacks had left us in a state of panic and despair. Our communities are deeply scarred, and the suffering is unimaginable.” 

This article was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

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