Edith Stein was born to a Jewish family in Breslau, Germany. Through her passionate study of philosophy, she searched for truth and found it in reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Jesus. In 1922 she was baptized a Catholic and in 1933 she entered the Carmel of Cologne where she took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was gassed and cremated at Auschwitz on August 9, 1942, during the Nazi persecution and died a martyr for the Christian faith after having offered her holocaust for the people of Israel. A woman of singular intelligence and learning, she left behind a body of writing notable for its doctrinal richness and profound spirituality. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II at Rome on October 11th, 1998, and subsequently named co-patroness of Europe together with St. Bridget of Sweden and St. Catherine of Siena. For a time, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross belonged to the same province as the friars who founded the monastery at Holy Hill. In 2024, the Discalced Carmelites petitioned Pope Francis to declare St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, OCD a Doctor of the Church.