Teresa Renata Posselt, O.C.D. was the Novice Director, then Mother Prioress of the Cologne Carmel when Edith Stein lived there. This is Posselt’s tribute to Saint Edith Stein, a wreath of recollections, lovingly woven together. It is also the first-ever biography published about that “Great Woman of the Twentieth Century.” Having been out of print for half a century, the original text is here re-edited and enhanced by scholarly perspectives and updated and corrected in the light of knowledge which was not available to the author at the time. Enriched by a broader range of contemporary literature about the philosopher, educator, spiritual writer, and victim of the catastrophe that engulfed her as part of her Jewish people, this new presentation of the biography everyone cites so frequently brings the reader closer to the real Edith Stein.
The editors have avoided weighing down this engaging life story with intrusive scholarly notes and commentaries. Instead they have relegated such material to a separate section of “Gleanings.” This gives the reader the option of enjoying the biography unencumbered by supplementary matter or delving into the Gleanings when desired. The three editors/translators are close to the Stein family as well as to her Carmelite family which she entered in 1933. Susanne Batzdorff is Edith Stein’s niece, who has known her in person. Josephine Koeppel and John Sullivan are both Carmelites who have occupied themselves with the life and work of the saint and have talked with several Carmelite religious who lived with Edith Stein. Complementing their notes and comments that deepen the knowledge of the famous phenomenologist and Carmelite is an insightful “Foreword” contributed by Sr. Amata Neyer, O.C.D., who knew Posselt personally. She has served as prioress of the Cologne Carmel and as archivist for its Edith Stein Archive.