The patroness of the Lithuanian Youth Days taking place next year on June 23 to 25 will be St. Edith Stein. Who was she? What can we learn from her?

On October 11, 1988, Pope John Paul II canonized her. Edith was born October 12, 1891, in Breslau (now Wrocław), the eleventh child (seventh of surviving children) born to the affluent Jewish family of Zygird and Augusta. Jews celebrated Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, that day. Many say this foreshadowed the rest of her life. When she was 2 her father passed away. Her mother was forced to take over the family business and take care of her many children herself. Augusta was very religious, a hard worker and strong-willed, and Edith followed her example her entire life. Truth be told, her mother wasn’t able to impart faith to her children; when Edith was fourteen she stopped believing.

Full story in Lithuanian here.