Fr. Brooks and Fr. Miller travel
to Rome for ceremony
By
Paige Fogarty '00
The Holy Cross community recently celebrated
the canonization of Edith Stein, who was made a saint by
Pope John Paul II in Rome, on Sunday, Oct.
11. The event has special significance for Holy Cross because the College
is the first American educational institution to name a building for Edith
Stein. This is also the first time in the history of Holy Cross that a
person for whom a campus building is named has been honored in this way;
the naming of Loyola Hall took place long after the canonization of the
founder of the Jesuit order, St. Ignatius Loyola.
Edith Stein was born in Breslau, Germany, on Oct. 12,
1891 and died at Auschwitz on Aug. 9, 1942. Born of Jewish parents, she converted
to Catholicism on Jan.
1, 1922. Eleven years later, she entered the Carmelite Order and took the name
Sister Benedicta of the
Cross.
A scholar and teacher before becoming a nun, she continued
to conduct research and write while living a contemplative life. Circumstances
in her native Germany
forced her to seek refuge among the Carmelites in Holland; subsequently, she
was arrested after the Catholic bishops of Holland protested the Nazi persecution
of the Jews. In retaliation for that protest, the Nazis arrested Catholics of
Jewish background, capturing
Edith Stein on Aug. 2, 1942.
In celebration of the canonization, Holy Cross displayed two banners in honor
of Edith Stein during the week of Oct. 11. One was suspended over the porch of
O'Kane Hall, indicating that the College rejoiced in the canonization. The other
was displayed over the entrance to the St. Joseph Memorial Chapel, asking for
St. Edith Stein's intercession.
Holy Cross was represented at the canonization by Rev. John E. Brooks, S.J.,
president emeritus, who noted the "mass of humanity which extended as far as
you could see from the top of St. Peter's
Square." Rev. Francis X. Miller, S.J., vice president emeritus, also attended
the celebration.
Fr. Brooks recalls he was reading a biography of Edith Stein while thinking about
proposals for the name of the newest building on campus, when he realized there
was a fourfold connection between her and the College. In addition to being a
first-class academician and philosopher, she also had a connection to the Society
of Jesus - a Jesuit priest had translated her works at one time. Furthermore,
she was a victim of the Holocaust, a subject of special interest to the College.
And finally,
naming the building after her supported Holy Cross' decision to admit women. "Given
these four factors," said
Fr. Brooks, "I found her to be the perfect choice, and people were enthusiastic
about it."
The life of Edith Stein has been the source of controversy
among members of the Jewish community, who see the canonization as a Christian
appropriation of the
Holocaust.
Fr. Brooks, however, feels these critics are
misreading the message conveyed by the Catholic Church in
making this
decision.
"
I think what they have failed to realize," Fr. Brooks said, "is that she was
martyred precisely because she was both Jewish and Catholic."
- Maggie Hayden '98
and Pam Reponen also contributed to this story.
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