Am I the only one who’s bothered by the widespread use of “St. Edith Stein” over “St. Teresa Benedicta”?
We don’t speak of St. Agnes Bojaxhiu, or St. Raymund Kolbe, or St. Francesco Forgione, or St. Karol Wojtyla. So why “Edith Stein”? She’s almost the only saint with a religious name I can think of whose birth name is even particularly w…
Am I the only one who’s bothered by the widespread use of “St. Edith Stein” over “St. Teresa Benedicta”?
We don’t speak of St. Agnes Bojaxhiu, or St. Raymund Kolbe, or St. Francesco Forgione, or St. Karol Wojtyla. So why “Edith Stein”? She’s almost the only saint with a religious name I can think of whose birth name is even particularly widely known, much less the one most commonly in use. (I mean, I had to look up “Francesco Forgione” which is a name I don’t think I’ve ever even encountered for a very popular 20th century saint.)
I’m just always trouble by a lot of the narratives around St. Teresa Benedicta, which often have an air of, “Hey fellow Catholics, did you know? We also have our own Jewish Holocaust victim!”
Which seems such a gross oversimplification of her intellect and holiness and historical context, and I wish more Catholic media outlets and saint biographers and catechetical resource developers, etc., would consciously reflect on and push back against this.
Am I the only one who’s bothered by the widespread use of “St. Edith Stein” over “St. Teresa Benedicta”?
We don’t speak of St. Agnes Bojaxhiu, or St. Raymund Kolbe, or St. Francesco Forgione, or St. Karol Wojtyla. So why “Edith Stein”? She’s almost the only saint with a religious name I can think of whose birth name is even particularly widely known, much less the one most commonly in use. (I mean, I had to look up “Francesco Forgione” which is a name I don’t think I’ve ever even encountered for a very popular 20th century saint.)
I’m just always trouble by a lot of the narratives around St. Teresa Benedicta, which often have an air of, “Hey fellow Catholics, did you know? We also have our own Jewish Holocaust victim!”
Which seems such a gross oversimplification of her intellect and holiness and historical context, and I wish more Catholic media outlets and saint biographers and catechetical resource developers, etc., would consciously reflect on and push back against this.