CvK

Dialogue of Reason (St Edith Stein - St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) Edith Stein was born in Breslau of a Jewish family, became a philosopher, becoming the assistant of Edmund Husserl. She converted to Catholicism and became a Carmelite nun and continued her writing. When the Nazis came to power she was moved to a Carmelite house in Echt, Holland. Following a complaint by the local bishop to the Nazis about the treatment of Jews, she was arrested in reprisal with her sister, Rosa, and taken to Auschwitz where she died a week later. In 1998 she was canonised by Pope John Paul II and she has been named one of the three patronesses of Europe. The Painting: In through the window streams the light of God which in turn is reflected softly in the mosaic depicting His Son arching above all. Edith Stein is also strongly illuminated by light. She is surrounded by figures that have had strong influences on her life. From left to right is Edmund Husserl, the mathematician and philosopher. Stein was his assistant. Next to him is St Teresa of Avila holding the poetry of St John of the Cross. The book in her hand is open at his poem Upon the Gospel 'In the Beginning was the Word'. It was reading St Teresa's Autobiography that led Stein to convert to Christianity and Catholicism. Between St Teresa and Edith is Rosa Stein, Edith's sister. Rosa also converted and accompanied her sister into the Carmelite Convent. Rosa never took vows and remained a laywoman. She was also taken with Edith to Auschwitz and died with her. Next it the Carmelite mystic and poet St John of the Cross, the friend and fellow reformer of St Teresa of Avila. And finally St Thomas Aquinas who is holding the Sententiae of Peter Lombard. Edith is holding three books: The Collected Writings of St. Teresa of Jesus (St. Teresa of Avila), Aquinas's Summa contra Gentiles and the Formal and Transcendental Logic of Husserl. On the window sill in the light are three works by Stein: Endliches und Ewiges Sein. Versuch eines Aufstiegs zum Sinn des Seins (Finite and Eternal Being. An Attempt to Ascend to the Meaning of Being) and below it is Kreuzeswissenschaft. Studie ueber St Johannes a Cruce (Science of the Cross) and lying near these two books is the third: Das Ethos der Frauenberufe (The Ethos of Woman's Vocations"). Below is the barbed wire and blood stained bayonets, symbols of martyrdom, with the light catching the Cross and the Star of David. Edith is standing on a strand of barbed wire which is intended to recall the Virgin Mary's trampling the serpent under her foot. The painting breaks the rules of time and space, depicting people who were not contemporaries and the space of the room in which she stands merges into another space of the mosaic. Christ holds a gospel in his hands while blessing us and the scene. The words of St John's Gospel "In the beginning was the Word and…" is in Greek and to the left and right of Christ's head are the alpha and the omega signifying beginning and end. The book in St Teresa of Avila's hands is showing a poem by St John of the Cross reflecting on the same verse of St John's Gospel. Hence the importance of a spiritual understanding of time and space and the understanding this can give of suffering and the overcoming of suffering.

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