Return to Baltimore Carmel's Home PageChronology: Edith Stein
| 1891 | 12 October | Birth at Breslau | |
| 1893 | July | Siegfreid Stein dies of sunstroke | |
| 1897 | 12 October | Victoria School in Breslau | |
| 1901 | German universities open to women | ||
| 1906 | Easter | Completes Victoria School and spends 10 months as mother's helper with her sister Else | |
| Decides she no longer believes in God: "I consciously stopped praying | |||
| October | Tells mother she wants to come home and return to school | ||
| December? | Returns to Breslau | ||
| 1907 | "A serious search for truth had begun" | ||
| September | Begins tutoring in Latin and Mathematics; covers three years work in 9 months | ||
| 1908 | Easter | Passes examination for Obersecunda; Attends Realgymnasium affiliated with Victoria School | |
| 1911 | April 27 | Finishes her work at the Realgymnasium and begins her work at the University of Breslau; First contact with Gospel Text | |
| 1912 | Winter | Teaches a beginner's course in English | |
| Summer | Severe depression related to meaning of life | ||
| 1913 | April 18 | Begins four semesters at University of Göttingen | |
| ? | Begins to occupy herself with religious questions | ||
| ? | Depression lifts during a presentation of "A Mighty Fortress is our God" | ||
| 1914 | First encounter with Catholicism | ||
| July 30 | Leaves Gottingen | ||
| Aug 2 | War declared; Edith volunteers as Red Cross nurse | ||
| October | Bronchitis; extended leave from Red Cross | ||
| November | Returns to Göttingen; submits thesis for state boards | ||
| 1915 | January | Passes State boards for teaching preparatory philosophy, history, German | |
| Easter | Completes her work at University of Göttingen | ||
| October | Receives her "leaving" certificate from the humanistic gymnasium | ||
| 1916 | Lipps asks if she is Catholic; no, but almost says "unfortunately" | ||
| February | Takes a position as substitute teacher at the Realgymnasium (Latin, German, History, Geography) | ||
| Easter | Registers for courses in pedagogy | ||
| July | Experience of woman in church "intimacy" | ||
| August | Studies Gabelsberger shorthand with view to deciphering Husserl's notes | ||
| September | End of teaching post | ||
| October | Moves to Freiburg-im-Breisgau to work with Husserl | ||
| 1917 | March 30 | PhD in Philosophy summa cum laude | |
| Summer | 3 week vacation in the Black Forest with her sister and friends | ||
| November | Adolf Reinach killed on Battlefield in Flanders | ||
| 1918 | Spends time with Anna Reinach arranging her husband's papers and is moved by Anna's Christian response to death. Seed of faith sown: "My unbelief collapsed" | ||
| February | Resigns her position with Husserl after much frustration! Attempts to find Professorship; has recommendation from Husserl, but he opposes any woman holding a professorship | ||
| 1919 | Still no professorship; teaches at Breslau; writes essays and articles, begins lecturing | ||
| 1920 | Essay "Plant Soul--Animal Soul" Friends thought she'd already converted | ||
| 1921 | Summer | Spends time with Theodore and Hedwig Conrad-Martius; by this time she knows Christianity is her destiny, but not where; Hattie had become a Lutheran. Reads life of Teresa of Avila; buys missal and catechism and studies on her own before approaching the parish priest to ask for Baptism | |
| 1922 | January 1 | Baptized, desires to enter Carmel immediately | |
| February 2 | Confirmed in private chapel of Bishop Ludwig Sebastian. Canon Schwind, Vicar General of Speyer diocese, becomes her Spiritual director; later introduces her to Erich Przywara, SJ. He influences both of them: Edith and Schwind read and discuss books together; Przywara suggests she translate Newman's Letters and Diaries into German, then Thomas Aquinas | ||
| Easter (probably, as this is the beginning of the school year) | Canon Schwind procures her a teaching position at St. Magdalen College for Women in Speyer, a training institute for teachers; teaches German and literature; lives with the Dominican Sisters | ||
| 1925 | Erich Przywara asks her to translate Newman's letters and diaries; also initiates her into theology of Thomas Aquinas | ||
| 1926 | Visited Husserl in Freiburg | ||
| 1927 | Sept 17 | Canon Schwind's death. Edith writes his obituary; at the time of his death, they were reading together Grisar's Life of Luther | |
| Late | Abbot Raphael Walzer of the Abbey of Beuron becomes her spiritual director and encourages her public intellectual life; discourages her desire to enter Carmel | ||
| 1929 | Publication of "Husserl's Phenomenology and the Philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas" in Husserl's yearbook | ||
| Summer | Husserl sent Edith Formal and Transcendental Logic | ||
| 1930 | Spring | Reads Husserl's Formal and Transcendental Logic;
Abbot Walzer encourages her to give up her retirement at St. Magdalen's | |
| Dec. 10 | Letter: "Perhaps I shall give up the school" | ||
| 1931 | March 27 | "I left Speyer," probably the end of the semester
Begins the translation of Quaestiones Disputatae de Veritate | |
| 1931 or 1932 | Meeting with Heidegger at Freiburg | ||
| 1932 | Begins to lecture on the vocation of woman; Delivers Radio addresses via Batavian Radio Network | ||
| Easter | Begins to teach at the German Institute in Munster
Resides at the Collegium Marianum Translation of Thomas Aquinas appears; very mixed reviews | ||
| 1933 | January 30 | Hitler comes to power in Germany
Requests private audience with Pope Pius XI to discuss anti-semitism-- Request refused; sent letter--received a blessing for herself and her family | |
| Feb 25 | Last lecture at Münster | ||
| April 19 | Told she can no longer teach at the Institute | ||
| April 30 | Prays for guidance regarding her desire to enter Carmel | ||
| Mid-May | Receives Abbot Walzer's permission to pursue Carmel and visits the Carmel of Cologne (now Köln) | ||
| June 19 | Receives acceptance from Carmel | ||
| July 16 | Lives as an extern at the Carmel for a month | ||
| Aug 15 | Goes home for last visit and tells Mother of her decision to enter Carmel | ||
| September | Begins writing her Autobiography | ||
| Oct 14 | Enters Carmel | ||
| 1934 | April 15 | Receives Carmelite Habit
During Novitiate year, Carmelite Provincial asks her to return to writing | |
| 1935 | Easter | Makes First Profession of Vows | |
| Autumn | Edith receives first letter from her mother since entering Carmel | ||
| 1936 | Early | Begins to write Finite and Eternal Being | |
| Sept 1 | Completes Finite and Eternal Being | ||
| Sept 14 | Frau Stein dies | ||
| 1938 | April 21 | Makes Final Profession of vows | |
| April 27 | Husserl's Death | ||
| May 1 | Receives the Black Veil in Public Ceremony | ||
| Nov 8 | Kristallnacht | ||
| Begins negotiations for transfer to Echt Carmel | |||
| Dec 31 | Night; crossed the border into Holland | ||
| 1939 | January | Inquires whether autobiography manuscript can be brought to Holland; resumes work on it briefly | |
| March 26 | (Passion Sunday) asks permission to offer herself as a "victim for real peace" | ||
| 1940 | Summer | Rosa reaches Holland | October 15 |
| September | Doing again "as much intellectual work as possible" | ||
| 1941 | Summer | Edith finishes Symbolic Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius | |
| July 1 | Education of Jewish Catholic children forbidden by Nazis | ||
| August | Begins writing Science of the Cross (unfinished)
Edict requiring non-Aryan Germans residing in Holland to be deported by December 15; nuns begin negotiations with Carmel of Le Paquier in Switzerland for Edith's transfer there | ||
| Sept 1 | Jews required to wear Star of David on clothing | ||
| 1942 | July 26 | Dutch Bishops issue Pastoral on Racism and Antisemitism | |
| July 27 | Reprisal: All Catholic Jews to be deported by week's end | ||
| August 2 | 5 PM Edith and Rosa are picked up by the SS at Echt Carmel; taken to Amersfoort Prison Camp | ||
| August 5 | Arrive at Westerbork Concentration Camp in the morning; Edith's final notes to her community | ||
| August 7 | Leave Amersfoort for Auschwitz; is described as looking "like a Pieta without the Christ" | ||
| August 9 | Death in the gas chamber at Auschwitz | ||
| 1987 | May 1 | Beatified as a martyr by Pope John Paul II |
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