Flora Cantábrica

Edith Stein.martyr.2,english.24,1-23

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Conversion to Catholicism (1921-1922).

The events that occurred between 1918 and 1921 definitely lead her to conversion. In Edith Stein’s conversion there are three very significant facts.

  The first happened one day when she was on a tourist trip, in the city of Frankfurt. She entered the Cathedral and observed how a gardener woman, with her basket in her hand, entered the church to pray. This caught her attention because she thought that this lady was talking to someone, who seemed to be alive. And not only that, but the fact of her leaving work for a few minutes and going to church without a celebration. For her it was something unusual, because she remembered that she only went to the synagogue when there were religious celebrations

The next one happened when she received an invitation from Ana Reinach to her house, because her husband had died in the war, and she needed Edith to help her order all her manuscripts. The death of Adolf Reinach affected our author a lot, but she was even more overwhelmed by the peace with which her widow accepted the death of her husband. Stein remembers it in her biography: This was my first encounter with the cross. 158 Santa Teresa de Jesús (1515-1582) 158 Sancho Fermín, F. J. (1998). Edith Stein. Thought and landscape, op, cit, p, 76. 105

The third event occurred in March 1921, the definitive one in his conversion; was the invitation he received from the Conrad-Martius couple, to spend a few days in Bad Bergzabern, in southern Germany. This marriage was of the Protestant religion. She, Hedwig, was Edith’s best friend. They had many things in common. She was a philosopher and had been a student of Husserl. Actually our author had already read the New Testament, therefore, she knew Jesus Christ. But her doubt was whether she should choose Protestantism or Catholicism. Hedwig gave him the life of Santa Teresa de Jesús de Avila to read. She read it in one night and exclaimed: This is the truth. On January 1, 1922, Father Eugenio Breitling baptized