Feast Day: March
03
Also known as
Catherine
Marie Drexel
Profile
Daughter of
the extremely wealthy railroad entrepreneurs and philanthropists Francis
Anthony and Emma (Bouvier) Drexel. Taught from an early age to use her
wealth for the benefit of others; her parents even opened their home to the
poor several days each week. Katharine's older sister Elizabeth founded
a
Pennsylvania trade
school for
orphans; her younger sister founded a liberal arts and vocational
school for
poor
blacks in
Virginia. Katharine nursed her
mother through a
fatal three-year illness before setting out on her own; Emma died in
1883.
Interested in the condition of
Native Americans, during an audience in
1887, she asked
Pope
Leo XIII to send more
missionaries to
Wyoming for her friend,
Bishop James O'Connor. The
pope replied, "Why don't you become a
missionary?"
She visited the
Dakotas, met the
Sioux chief, and began her systematic aid to
Indian
missions, eventually spending millions of the family fortune. Entered
the novitiate of the Sisters of Mercy. Founded the Sisters of the
Blessed Sacrament for
Indians and
Colored, now known simply as the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
in Santa Fe,
New Mexico,
USA in
1891. Advised by Mother
Frances Cabrini on getting the Order's rule approved in
Rome. She received the approval in
1913.
By
1942 she had a system of
black Catholic schools in 13 states, 40 mission centers, 23 rural
schools, 50
Indian missions, and Xavier University in New Orleans,
Louisiana,
USA, the first
United States
university for
blacks. Segregationists harassed her work.
Following a
heart attack, she spent her last twenty years in prayer and meditation.
The Shrine of Saint Katharine at the motherhouse of the Sisters of the
Blessed Sacrament, 1663 Bristol Pike, Bensalem,
Pennsylvania,
USA 19020-8502, tel/215.639.7878, email/kathdrexelataol.com; it is open
from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm weekdays.
Born
26 November
1858 at Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania,
USA
Died
3 March
1955 of natural causes at the motherhouse of the Sisters of the
Blessed Sacrament, 1663 Bristol Pike, Bensalem,
Pennsylvania,
USA 19020-8502, tel/215.244.9900
Beatified
20 November
1988 by
Pope
John Paul II
Canonized
1 October
2000 at
Rome by
Pope
John Paul II
Images
Gallery of images of Saint Katharine
[5 images, 66 kb]
Readings
The patient
and humble endurance of the cross whatever nature it may be is the highest
work we have to do.
Oh, how far I am at 84 years of age from being an image of Jesus in his
sacred life on earth!
- Mother Katharine Drexel
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