SaintS for todaY
sT. ediTh sTein: undersTandinG The feminine This converTed Jewish inTellecTual and aTheisT arTiculaTed The TruTh of God’s desiGn for woman n BY MARY ELLEN STANFORD
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dith Stein (1891-1942), A person is a union of the once the brilliant student of physical and spiritual; as such, a the philosopher Edmund woman’s physical capacities to Husserl, is now revered by accommodate and sustain anothCatholics as St. Teresa Benedicer person only scratch the surta of the Cross. A German Jew face of her interior abilities to and atheist who converted to nurture others beyond herself. Catholicism during the era of Stein noted that women posHitler’s rise to power, Stein sess a unique capacity for intufound herself writing and lecturition, empathy, and adaptability; ing for years on the nature and she identified what John Paul II education of women before would later refer to as “the femientering the Carmel of Cologne nine genius”: a singular ability to in October 1931, and taking on pay attention to another person. her new name. Though hunted Oriented by design to the condown and killed by the Nazis a crete, living “whole” rather than St. Edith StEin idEntifiEd decade later, Stein has left the the abstract “part,” a woman is what P oPE J ohn P aul ii latEr Church an enduring gift beyond naturally interested in the multithat of her heroic witness in faceted details of the persons callEd “thE fEmininE gEniuS” death: an inspiring legacy of around her. (Modern neurosciwisdom for women sorely needed in our world today. entists have recently confirmed what Stein addressed a In a time when USA Today’s “Woman of the Year” and century ago: that women have better memories of perthe NCAA’s top women’s swimming title are awarded to sonal events and are more proficient at multitasking!). biological males, it has become a dangerous thing to ask Symbolized by her womb — a physical “space” — a “what is a woman?” woman’s spirit was described by Stein as “shelter in Our nation’s newest Supreme Court justice attempted which other souls may unfold.” to dodge the question by claiming ignorance and referShe longs to nurture the potential in others, to foster ring the issue of womanhood to biologists. How ironic their organic development through her relationships with that Edith Stein would probably agree! them; as such, a woman tends to draw satisfaction and a Stein understood our biological design — our bodies sense of self-worth in and through those very relation— to be revelatory signs of our natures as persons. ships. In the tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas, who described So, what could go wrong? the soul as the “form” of the body, Stein saw the female Unfortunately, a woman is often tripped up by the body’s particular shape to be an expression of interior, very gifts that distinguish her. Her personal orientation spiritual powers within her. can become warped as she is hurt by taking things “too 46 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2022
