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Katharine Drexel

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Saint Katharine Drexel
St Katharine Drexel
Abbess
Born(1858-11-26)November 26, 1858
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DiedMarch 3, 1955(1955-03-03) (aged 96)
Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
BeatifiedNovember 20, 1988 by Pope John Paul II
CanonizedOctober 1, 2000 by Pope John Paul II
Major shrineBensalem Township, Pennsylvania
FeastMarch 3
Patronagephilanthropists, racial justice

Katharine Drexel (November 26, 1858 — March 3, 1955) was an American nun, philanthropist and educator, later canonized as a Roman Catholic saint.

Life and religious work

Katharine Mary Drexel was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 26, 1858 to Francis Anthony Drexel and Hannah Langstroth. Her family owned a considerable banking fortune, and her uncle Anthony Joseph Drexel was the founder of Drexel University in Philadelphia. She had two natural sisters, Louise and Elizabeth.

She became a nun, and took the name Sister Katharine, dedicating herself and her inheritance to the needs of oppressed Native Americans and African-Americans in the western and southwestern United States, and was a vocal advocate of racial tolerance. She established a religious order, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. She also financed more than 60 missions and schools around the United States, and founded Xavier University of Louisiana[1] - the only historically Black, Roman Catholic university in the United States to date.

Sainthood

Drexel was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 20, 1988, and canonized on October 1, 2000, one of only a few American saints and the first American-born saint. The Vatican cited a fourfold legacy of Drexel: A love of the Eucharist and perspective on the unity of all peoples; courage and initiative in addressing social inequality among minorities; her efforts to achieve quality education for all; and selfless service, including the donation of her inheritance, for the victims of injustice. She is known as the patron saint of racial justice and of philanthropists.[2]

Her feast day is March 3, the anniversary of her death. She is buried in Cornwells Heights, Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania.

Saint Katharine Drexel Mission Center and Shrine

See also: List of shrines § United States

The Saint Katharine Drexel Mission Center and National Shrine[3] is located in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. The Mission Center[4] offers retreat programs, historic site tours, days of prayer, presentations about Saint Katharine Drexel, and lectures and seminars related to her legacy. Furniture and exhibits tell the story of St. Katharine Drexel, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, and the accomplishments of black and Native American people. Her tomb lies under the main altar in St. Elizabeth Chapel.[5]

Relics

A second-class relic of St. Katharine Drexel can be found inside the altar of the Mary chapel at St. Raphael the Archangel Catholic Church in Raleigh, North Carolina,[6] and in the Day Chapel of Saint Katharine Drexel Parish in Sugar Grove, Illinois.

Parishes and schools named for St. Katharine Drexel

St. Benedict the Moor School, St. Augustine (c.1898), paid for by St. Katharine Drexel

Numerous Catholic parishes and schools bear the name of St. Katharine Drexel.

See also

References

  1. ^ "XU Quick Facts". Xavier University of Louisiana. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
  2. ^ "Vatican biography". Retrieved 2008-03-03.
  3. ^ National Shrine of Saint Katharine Drexel webpage. Saint Katharine Drexel Mission Center and National Shrine websection (of "Saint Katharine Drexel / Foundress of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament 1891" website). Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Retrieved 2011-01-28.
  4. ^ Saint Katharine Drexel Mission Center and National Shrine websection home page ("Saint Katharine Drexel / Foundress of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament 1891" website). Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Retrieved 2011-01-28.
  5. ^ Saint Elizabeth Chapel webpage. Saint Katharine Drexel Mission Center and National Shrine websection (of "Saint Katharine Drexel / Foundress of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament 1891" website). Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Retrieved 2011-01-28.
  6. ^ St. Raphael the Archangel Catholic Church, Raleigh, North Carolina

Sources

  • Tarry, Ellen (1958). St. Katharine Drexel - Friend of the Oppressed. New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, Inc.
Official website
In general

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