Edith was born the eleventh child, the seventh surviving, to Siegfried and Augusta Stein on October 12, 1891 in a small house on Kohlenstrasse. The parents had come from Lublinitz just a half year before her birth to seek a better living.

In that year, this date fell on the Jewish Day of Atonement, “Yom Kippur”, and Edith explains in her autobiography that this correlation of events was so important to her mother that it was the paramount reason why her mother held her so dear.

Freda Mary Oben

St. Edith Stein the Woman

I was born on the Day of Atonement, and my mother always considered it my real birthday, although celebrations and gifts were always forthcoming on October 12. (She herself celebrated her birthday, according to the Jewish calendar, on the Feast of Tabernacles; but she no longer insisted on this custom for her children.) She laid great stress on my being born on the Day of Atonement, and I believe this contributed more than anything else to her youngest’s being especially dear to her.

Saint Edith Stein

Chapter II, The world as the two youngest knew it

Stein, E, Gelber, L, Leuven R, & Koeppel J 1986, Life in a Jewish Family: her unfinished autobiographical account, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Sullivan, J 1987, Edith Stein Symposium: Teresian Culture, ICS Publications, Washington, DC.

Featured image: Polish artist Jakub Weinles (1870–1938) depicted the synagogue prayers On the Eve of Yom Kippur at the turn of the century, most likely in Warsaw. This oil on canvas painting comes from the Polish Painting Collection in the National Museum in Warsaw. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/10/11/edith-birth/

#AugusteStein #autobiography #biography #birth #Breslau #dayOfAtonement #familyLife #FredaMaryOben #history #Jewish #StEdithStein