The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee marked the feast day of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, by shedding light on her life after she converted from Judaism.

Edith Stein was born into a Jewish family in Poland. Early in her schooling, she was recognized as a brilliant student, Franciscan Media reported. She stopped believing in God as a teen and focused on her studies, earning a doctorate in philosophy and becoming a professor. 

“In her studies, she grew to admire the intellectual and spiritual lives of several Christians,” the diocese posted on Facebook. “After reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, she had a change of heart. She later recalled, ‘When I had finished the book, I said to myself: this is the truth.’” 

Saints Resource reported that she was baptized in 1922 and began teaching at a Catholic girls' school. In 1933, she became a sister with the Discalced Carmelite Order, taking the name Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. 

During World War II, Saints Resource said she was sent to Holland because her Jewish heritage put her in danger. After the Nazis conquered Holland in 1942, Sister Teresa Benedicta was arrested with her sister, who had also converted.

Teresa Benedicta and Rosa, her sister, were sent to Auschwitz, where they were killed in a gas chamber on Aug. 9, 1942, Franciscan Media reported. Pope John Paul II beatified Teresa Benedicta in 1987 and canonized her in 1999. She is the patron saint of Europe and converts to Christianity. 

She took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross as a symbol of her acceptance of suffering. 

"'I ask the Lord to accept my life and my death,' she wrote in 1939, '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,'” the diocese said.