Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Edith Stein was born of Jewish parents in 1891, becoming an influential philosopher following her extensive studies at major German universities. Following her conversion to Catholicism, she became a major force in German intellectual life, entering the Disclaced Carmelites in 1933. Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was arrested by the Nazi regime on August 2, 1942, and transported by cattle train to the death camp of Auschwitz where she died in the gas chambers on August 9, 1942.