St. Clare of Assisi - August 11

Saint Clare of Assisi

August 11

“The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom do I fear?” (Psalm 27:1)

Clare, the Latin origin of her name means, clear and luminous was born to a wealthy family in Assisi, Italy in 1194 (by some accounts 1193). At eighteen years of age when St. Francis came to teach a course in the church of San Giorgio at Assisi, she was inspired by his words and the Holy Spirit enflamed in her soul. She left her home and all her riches to follow in the steps of St. Francis, finally founding the order of the Poor Clare Nuns with approval by Pope Gregory IX in 1228.

Though, during her life, many miracles were attributed to the prayers and petitions of God’s servant St. Clare, the most famous was that which God performed due to St. Clare’s faith in Our Lord’s real presence in the Holy Eucharist.

“By imperial order, regiments of Saracen soldiers and bowmen were stationed there (near Assisi), massed like bees, ready to devastate the encampments and seize the cities.  Once, during an enemy attack against Assisi, city beloved of the Lord, and while the army was already approaching the gates, the fierce Sarcens invaded San Damiano, entered the confines of the monastery….St. Clare, with a fearless heart, commanded them (her fellow sisters) to lead her, sick as she was, to the door, preceded by a silver and ivory case in which the Body of the Saint of saints was kept with great devotion.  Prostrating herself before the Lord, she spoke tearfully to her Christ:  ‘Behold, my Lord, is it possible that You wish to deliver these Your defenseless handmaids, whom I have taught for love for You, into the hands of pagans?  I pray You, Lord, protect these Your handmaids whom I cannot save alone.’  Suddenly a voice like that of a child resounded in her ears from the tabernacle: ‘I will always protect you!’  ‘My Lord,’ she added, ‘if it is Your will, protect also this city which sustains us for love of You.’  Christ replied, ‘It will have to undergo trials, but it will be defended by My protection.’  Then the virgin, raising a face bathed in tears, comforted her weeping sister:  ‘I assure you, daughters, that you will suffer no harm; only have faith in Christ.’  There was no delay; the fierce Saracens were immediately filled with fear and fled back over the walls they had scaled.”  (The Eucharistic Miracles of the World, catalogue of the Vatican International Exhibition, page 276-277)

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom do I fear?
The Lord is my life’s refuge;
of whom am I afraid?
When evildoers come at me
to devour my flesh,
These my enemies and foes
themselves stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me,
my heart does not fear;
Though war be waged against me,
even then do I trust.
One thing I ask of the Lord;
this I seek:
To dwell in the Lord’s house
all the days of my life. (Psalm 27: 1- 4)

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Art
St. Clare and the Assault on Assisi, Giuseppe Cesari (Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia)
Icon in the Basilica of St. Clare of Assisi
Portion of Altarpiece of San Francesco al Monte

Edith Stein - Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross - August 9

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Edith Stein

August 9

“Whoever seeks the truth is seeking God,
whether consciously or unconsciously.”
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Today is the feast day of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was born of Jewish parents on the feast of Yom Kippur (The Feast of Atonement) in 1891 and named Edith Stein. As a seeker of truth, she studied at German universities and became an influential philosopher. She converted to Catholicism and was baptized on January 1, 1922 on the Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus, when Jesus entered into the covenant of Abraham.

In 1932 she accepted a lectureship position at the University of Munster. By 1933, the Aryan Law of the Nazis made it impossible for her to continue teaching in Germany. She wrote, “If I can’t go on here, then there are no longer any opportunities for me in Germany, I have become a stranger in the world.”

Edith Stein entered the Discalced Carmelites in 1933 and took the name Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. As anti-Semitism continued to rise in Germany, the prioress of Sister Teresa’s Carmelite Convent in Cologne was able to smuggle her across into the Netherlands to the Carmelite Convent in Limburg Province. It was here that Sister Teresa Benedicta wrote in her will on June 9, 1939, "Even now I accept the death that God has prepared for me in complete submission and with joy as being his most holy will for me. I ask the Lord to accept my life and my death ... so that the Lord will be accepted by His people and that His Kingdom may come in glory, for the salvation of Germany and the peace of the world."

On August 2nd  1942, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, along with her sister Rosa who had also converted, was arrested by the Gestapo. Along with other Catholics of Jewish decent, they were transferred by cattle train to Westerbork, then on August 7th they were transported to Auschwitz where they were murdered August 9th in the Nazi gas chamber.

On May 1, 1987, Pope John Paul II beatified Edith Stein stating, “The Church honored a daughter of Israel, who as a Catholic during Nazi persecution, remained faithful to the crucified Lord Jesus Christ and as a Jew, to her people in loving faithfulness. He canonized her October 11, 1998. Pope John Paul II would receive his beatification 24 years later on May 1.

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Pray for Us

Blessed John Paul II, Pray for Us