An August Saint                              

  St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Patron of Europe        

                                9^th August

Edith Stein, born 12 October 1891 of Jewish patents, in Breslau, Germany, from her earliest years showed a great aptitude for learning, and studied philosophy at the Universities of Breslau and Gottingen. After the First World War she resumed her studies at Freiburg and was awarded a Doctorate in philosophy at the age of 25.  

She worked as assistant to the famous phenomenologist, Professor Hussert.           On reading the life of St Teresa of Avila, Edith became interested in the Catholic Church and was baptised on New Year’s Day 1922. She entered the Carmelite monastery at Cologne-Lindenthal in 1933, and was given the name of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.

Persecution of the Jews forced her to flee to a Carmelite community in Holland, where she wrote her last work, The Science of the Cross.   

In 1942 all Catholics of Jewish extraction were deported to Germany. Edith was among those who died in the gas chambers of Auchwitz on the 9^th August 1942.  She was canonised in 1998.

 On vacation in the Alps, Pope Benedict XVI made a brief visit to Switzerland, walking across the Italian border to visit the famed Saint Bernard kennel of an Augustinian monastery.

The Pope himself broke the news when he returned to Les Combes, where he has been staying since July 11. He told reporters he had gone first to a convent of Benedictine nuns at Saint-Oyen, Italy.

"We had a lovely meeting with the Benedictine sisters and we prayed together," the Pope said. "Then we went to the Great St. Bernard Pass where we prayed vespers with the monks and with the people before having a nice encounter in the refectory."

Meeting the Pope shortly after 8 p.m., the reporters asked if he had a chance to visit the kennels where, for more than three centuries, the Augustinians raised Saint Bernard dogs and trained them to assist in mountain rescues.

Smiling, the pope said yes, adding that the dogs "were very good, very brave."

He had “a beautiful walk” as he returned to Italy, where his car was waiting. 

Members of the papal entourage told reporters that about 200 tourists were at the Augustinian monastery and were amazed when they saw the Pope come out. He stopped to shake hands and to bless children.

The Augustinians had announced in 2004 that they could no longer afford to raise Saint Bernards and were planning to auction off the animals. After a public uproar, particularly because the dogs are an important symbol for local tourism, a Swiss association assumed financial responsibility for the kennel.

Pope Benedict has been spending his mornings inside the Salesian-owned chalet at Les Combes, leading some journalists to report that he is continuing work on a book about Jesus that he began before his election. Others said he was working on a new encyclical on Catholic social teaching, focused on work. Vatican officials would not comment.