The Paradoxes of Auschwitz: Barbarity and Beatitude

“Cheery religion” can’t produce Edith Steins. Only the Old Faith can do that. The Old Faith, unafraid of the Cross. 

Published in Crisis Magazine on August 9, 2023 | Originially published September 2, 2014

Shivers of horror still travel down the backs of the sturdiest of men at the mention of Auschwitz. It is a place forever synonymous with satanic evil. Yet, Catholics know differently: not a denial of Auschwitz’s inhuman terrors, but its standing as a crucible of holiness. 

Its barbarity created two canonized saints: Maximilian Kolbe and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. And they are only the acknowledged ones. Who is to say how many countless souls united themselves to Christ’s cross in that unremitting hell of grisly death, gaining swift entry into paradise?  

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