13th July 1935
Beuron

Beuron

Beuron is a municipality in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Beuron is known for the Beuron Archabbey and the Beuron Art School for religious art.

Beuron Archabbey is a major house of the Benedictine Order located at Beuron in the upper Danube valley in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.

Note: Edith Stein — later canonised as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross — wrote a letter to Pius XI in April 1933 about the persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany. Her letter was sent personally via the Arch-Abbott of Beuron.

The text of the letter:

As a child of the Jewish people who, by the grace of God, for the past eleven years has also been a child of the Catholic Church, I dare to speak to the Father of Christianity about that which oppresses millions of Germans. For weeks we have seen deeds perpetrated in Germany which mock any sense of justice and humanity, not to mention love of neighbor. For years the leaders of National Socialism have been preaching hatred of the Jews. … But the responsibility must fall, after all, on those who brought them to this point and it also falls on those who keep silent in the face of such happenings. Everything that happened and continues to happen on a daily basis originates with a government that calls itself 'Christian'. For weeks not only Jews but also thousands of faithful Catholics in Germany, and, I believe, all over the world, have been waiting and hoping for the Church of Christ to raise its voice to put a stop to this abuse of Christ's name. Is not this idolization of race and governmental power which is being pounded into the public consciousness by the radio open heresy? Isn't the effort to destroy Jewish blood an abuse of the holiest humanity of our Savior, of the most blessed Virgin and the apostles? Is not all this diametrically opposed to the conduct of our Lord and Savior, who, even on the cross, still prayed for his persecutors? And isn't this a black mark on the record of this Holy Year which was intended to be a year of peace and reconciliation? We all, who are faithful children of the Church and who see the conditions in Germany with open eyes, fear the worst for the prestige of the Church, if the silence continues any longer.

Her letter received no answer, and it is not known for certain whether the Pope ever saw it. However, in 1937 the Pope issued an encyclical written in German, Mit brennender Sorge (according to its German first words, lit. 'With deep anxiety'), in which he criticised Nazism, listed violations of the Concordat between Germany and the Church of 1933, and condemned antisemitism.

Edith Stein was murdered in the gas chamber at Auschwitz on 9th August 1942.

Arch-Abbott Raphael Walzer from Ravensburg (1888–1966): 1918–1937

The Beuron art school was founded by a confederation of Benedictine monks in Germany in the late 19th century.

A series of murals entitled 'Life of the Virgin' was created under the direction of Desiderius Lenz, Gabriel Wuger, and Lukas Steiner between 1880 and 1887 for the Benedictine Abbey of Emmaus in Prague. Subsequently destroyed by fire in 1945 during World War II, two copies of this set are still in existence.

Source: Wikipedia

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