Day 2 of the Saintly Sixteen is underway, and yesterday’s matchup certainly shook things up. Martin Luther hammered Richard Hooker and his famous three-legged stool, after already knocking John Wesley and the Quadrilateral out in round one. The question now: can anyone stop Luther?
Today we re-meet two saints who just might. It’s Desmond Tutu vs Edith Stein.
Remember, this round celebrates the legends, quirks, and larger than life stories that made these saints unforgettable. So read, watch, and VOTE!
Desmond Tutu
Author’s disclosure: My cat is named Edith after Edith Stein, since she was found on her feast day, August 9th. This is an emotionally laden match up for me; I feared the day might come. I have set aside personal feelings to give you an objective account, which has only further encouraged me to vote for “The Arch” today.
In 2021, Greg Myre wrote a remembrance for Archbishop Desmond Tutu for NPR entitled, “Desmond Tutu’s laugh was contagious. His fight for freedom was deadly serious.” In this article, Myre tells the story of Tutu’s response to opposition: “One day, government operatives rounded up unemployed Black people, gave them pre-printed protest signs and drove them to Tutu's home […] the government wanted media coverage showing that Tutu was actually harming South African Blacks with his calls for sanctions. When Tutu got wind of this, he raced home, invited the protesters into his garden and turned on the charm. By the time the television cameras arrived, the protest signs had been discarded on the sidewalk and everyone was enjoying tea, cookies and the gracious host at his impromptu garden party.”
The Arch used his gifts of speech, joy, and humor to further God’s kingdom. Bernard Dagnall in King’s College’s magazine InTouch remembers Tutu by saying, “[…] he recognised his gifts and was prepared to use them wherever appropriate. For him that meant upholding the dignity of all human beings, seeking justice wherever there was injustice, often at great personal risk, because ‘all people matter and matter enormously, because they are created in the image of God.”
Tutue describes his source of joy in his book God Has a Dream: “I am deeply thankful for those moments in the early morning when I try to be quiet, to sit in the presence of the gentle and compassionate and unruffled One […] People often ask about the source of my joy and I can honestly say that it comes from my spiritual life – and specifically from these times of stillness.”
Tutu’s efforts to uphold human dignity included the dignity of those of different faiths. In his book (surprisingly titled) God Is Not a Christian, he writes: “We should want to deal with other faiths at their best and highest, as they define themselves, and not shoot down caricatures that we want to put up.”
His fight for justice was based on his knowledge of God. In God Has a Dream he says: “[…] despite all the evidence that seems to be to the contrary, there is no way that evil and injustice and oppression and lies can have the last word. God is a God who cares about right and wrong. God cares about justice and injustice. God is in charge.”
Today, I end with one of The Arch’s quotes which is particularly resonant: “Peace requires the people of Israel and Palestine to recognize the human being in themselves and each other, and to understand their interdependence.” While the current world conflict may not be the conflict he knew, may we recognize the human being in ourselves and each other, and know we are all interdependent.
— Emily Kiel
Edith Stein
Edith Stein showed up to this bracket with a patronage portfolio that is, frankly, doing more heavy lifting than a gym bro. She is co-patroness of Europe, patron of martyrs, patron of those who have lost their parents, and, in a turn that surely no one saw coming from a Carmelite mystic, patron of World Youth Day. Multitasking in death as in life, it seems.
After being born into a devout Jewish family on October 12, 1891, Edith spent her teens becoming an atheist, her twenties becoming one of Germany's most celebrated philosophers, and her thirties converting to Catholicism after a single sleepless night with a book. Specifically, Teresa of Avila's autobiography, which she apparently picked up at random at a friend's house and could not put down. When she finished it at dawn, she said simply to herself:
"This is the truth."
She was baptized six months later. Just like that. What, like it’s hard?
Speaking of things the universe seems to have arranged on purpose: Edith was born on Yom Kippur. Her devoutly Jewish mother considered this no coincidence and made Edith her favorite child. There is something almost uncanny about a woman whose life would become so defined by atonement and sacrifice entering the world on the holiest day of the Hebrew calendar. Subtle, God, subtle.
Then there is her doctoral dissertation. It was written on the subject of empathy and completed summa cum laude, then followed by years of being denied academic positions because universities wouldn't hire women. The foremost philosophical expert on empathy, treated without any. We'll let that sit.
If you needed more evidence that Edith contained multitudes, consider that she described herself in her autobiography as a Streberin — German for overachiever or go-getter. This from a woman who taught herself Latin as a child, translated Thomas Aquinas into German while living in a convent, and in her final moments at Auschwitz reportedly moved through the crowd of terrified families around her — calming children, steadying mothers — as though she had been preparing her whole life for exactly that moment. Witnesses described her as looking like a Pietà.
Her own words have a way of arriving quietly and resounding loudly:
"Do not accept anything as love which lacks truth. And do not accept anything as the truth if it lacks love."
And, from early in her Carmelite life, a line that turned out to be more than a sentiment:
"If anyone comes to me, I want to lead them to Him."
She meant it.
— Samantha Smith
57 comments on “Desmond Tutu vs. Edith Stein”
Shocked that Edith isn't getting the love today.
She IS getting love, but it is not love alone that inspires the vote. At least in what is visible - and that is all that we have to go on - Archbishop's effective advocacy for justice and against apartheid, his inspiring and participating in Truth and Justice, and his tireless evangelizing the Dream of God for Humanity. The cost of listening to atrocities so that truth could be heard cost him his health and eventually his life. What Edith Stein did was magnificent, and most of it, according to her desire and plan, was not visible. I think she would be pleased for Archbishop Tutu to win so that she could go back to the hidden life of mysticism that she chose.
I couldn’t help but see so many similarities between what Tutu and his brothers and sisters in Christ experienced and what we are experiencing today. He was able to stand up to the oppressors and still speak in love. His handling of the situation once apartheid was removed was justice without revenge. So Christ like!
Well, even though Archbishop Tutu gets more press, and even though I have met him (and no one ever talks about what a hoot and a holler the man could be!) I have to vote for Edith Stein. She is a ture inspiration!
So, once again, I did NOT vote for Desmond Tutu because he is NOT a saint. Also, Edith Stein was a better person & more worthy, although she's obviously, losing.
And he is technically not eligible to be in the bracket at all. He is not in any ecclesial sanctoral calendar.
Several nominated people have been included in Lent Madness every year who are not “official” saints. In fact, the whole category of “Modern Mercifuls” has no official saints at all! That allows us to recognise and appreciate the holy works of people who are deserving of being called “saintly”. Don’t miss out on supporting these influential people simply because they haven’t gone through the Catholic ritual of saint-ifying them. It is a game after all! Take it up with the Supreme Committee if your nose remains so out of joint.
This is so unfair. I can't believe this is the saintly 16 and not the finals. These are two giants who both deserve a golden halo!
Oh well, missed again & going to do it again by voting for the lady today! She made my Julian of Norwich like saying of the Season with
“Do not accept anything as Love which lacks Truth & do not accept anything as Truth if it lacks Love.❤️ Truth will be Love, Love is Free.
This one was tough. I went with Edith, telling myself Desmond Tutu had accolades on earth- she didn't. The writing on Edith was really moving, and I'm grateful to have learned about her.
I met Desmond Tutu once and he was an incredible man, and I suspect he will win this match up but I have to vote for Edith Stein for her words and her actions and because I would love for a woman, born into the Jewish faith, to confront Luther and remind us that even saints have their failings.
I had to vote for Edith Stein. I try to hold myself up to her and her love for others. In my mind, she is already wearing the golden halo. God bless you Sister Edith.
Oh my gosh! I had never met Edith Stein until I read her profile. As I write this it is all I can do to keep from weeping. I voted for her.
I am probably “in love” with DT. He is charismatic , holy, great sense of humor, and knows God . DT is a thin place! Years ago, I’ve been told he could be seen walking around my church- incognito. No collar or anything that would I.d. him as DT. Unfortunately I was probably teaching school.
Those initials do not stand for our president.
Edith should go all the way. Thank God for her.
In 2003, Trinity Wall Street and Kanuga collaborated in presenting a spiritual formation conference there in North Carolina. Archbishop Tutu was officially participating as keynote speaker, but his joyous presence suffused all the plenary sessions and breakout groups.
The conference brought themes of hope, redemption, and transformation. Some of the Archbishop’s remarks drew on his experiences as chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a body envisioned as a pathway from reckoning to redemptive transformation. The Old Testament prophet, Elijah, was sent to prepare the way for the great redemption. And traditionally, at Seder children open the door for Elijah to enter.
I saw one of the conference organizers driving the Archbishop from Kanuga. Driver and passenger were engaged in an animated front seat conversation with smiles, exuberant gestures, and negligible attention to driving. Neither had noticed one of the back doors open and swinging wildly as the car bumped along the mountain road. Welcome, Elijah!
Another tough choice. Please bring Edith Stein back next year. I just had to vote for Desmond Tutu this time.
A beautiful summary about Archbishop Desmond Tutu! I had the honor of meeting him. He was soft spoken and had a contagious laugh. At 5'10" I towered over him! Am still amazed that his knowledge and wisdom and kindness was visible and life-changing for so many.
I was inclined to vote for Edith Stein anyway, but when I saw this:
>Then there is her doctoral dissertation. It was written on the subject of empathy
HELLO how did I not know that, I should have known that, I read a paper comparing her understanding of empathy to others, but anyway, my copy should be here in about a week. 😀 Thank you Samantha!
I am frustrated with the many spelling errors in the postings. Tutu does not have an E at the end of his name. He won a Nobel peace prize, not a noble.
While the daily videos are entertaining I wish for better editing.
This one was too hard!
Voted for Edith Stein. I love the Arch as much as the next guy but I can't not vote for a WWII Martyr