Catholic Fire

By Jean M. Heimann August 9 is the feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (also known as Edith Stein), virgin and martyr, a Jewish convert to Catholicism, who later became a Discalced Carmelite nun and was martyred at Auschwitz. She is the patron saint of converted Jews, loss of parents, martyrs, and World Youth Day. Edith Stein was born on October 12, 1891, of Jewish parents, Siegried Stein and Auguste Courant, in Breslau, Germany, the youngest of eleven children. Although her parents were practicing Jews, Edith became an atheist during her adolescent years.  A critical thinker and a gifted scholar, Edith studied philology and philosophy at the universities of Breslau and Goettingen. Her studies were temporarily discontinued due to the outbreak of World War I. During the War, she felt motivated to offer her assistance to alleviate the suffering and tragedies of the war. In 1915, she became a nursing assistant and worked in a Red Cross hospital for the prevention of ...

On April 17, we honor Blessed Mary of the Incarnation.  Also known as Barbara Avrillot and Madame Acarie, she is recognized as the "mother and foundress of the (Discalced) Carmel in France". She is the patron of widows and the poor. Barbara Avrillot was born into an upper middle class family in Paris in 1566.  Her father, Nicholas Avrillot was a French government official. She was educated by the Poor Clares of Longchamp, who prepared her for the cloister. At the age of sixteen, however, she married Pierre Acarie, a Catholic aristocrat of good character, with whom she had six children. She was a model wife and mother. Pierre supported the Catholic League against Henry IV. When Henry became king, he seized the Acarie estates, impoverished the family, and exiled Pierre from Paris. Barbara had to remain behind to battle with creditors and business men for her children's fortune.  In addition, she endured considerable physical pain, the result of a fall from her hor...