- Katharine Drexel
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Saint Katharine Drexel, S.B.S. 
St. Katharine DrexelFoundress Born November 26, 1858
Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaDied March 3, 1955 (aged 96)
Bensalem Township, PennsylvaniaHonored in Roman Catholic Church Beatified November 20, 1988 by Pope John Paul II Canonized October 1, 2000 by Pope John Paul II Major shrine Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania Feast March 3 Patronage philanthropists, racial justice Saint Katharine Drexel, S.B.S., (November 26, 1858 – March 3, 1955) was an American Religious Sister, heiress, philanthropist and educator, later canonized as a Roman Catholic saint.
Contents
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 took religious vows, 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 congregation, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. She also financed more than 60 missions and schools around the United States, as well as founding 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 second American-born saint (Elizabeth Ann Seton was first, as a natural-born US citizen, born in New York City in 1774 and canonized in 1975). 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 observed on 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 StatesThe 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.
- Parishes:
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Sugar Grove, IL [1]
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Cape Coral, FL
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Buffalo, NY
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Hempstead, TX
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Venice, FL
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Weston, FL
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Frederick, MD
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Roxbury, MA
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Alton, NH
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Burlington, NJ (with two worship sites: All Saints Church and St. Paul Church)
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Egg Harbor Township, NJ
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Chester, PA
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Lansford, PA
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Mechanicsburg, PA
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Sioux Falls, SD
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Kaukauna, WI
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Springfield, IL (with two worship sites: Sacred Heart Church and St. Patrick's Church)
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Harpswell, ME
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Ramsey, MN
- St. Katharine Drexel Mission of Trenton, GA
- St. Katharine Drexel Parish of Cascade, ID
- Schools:
- St. Katharine Drexel School of St. Louis, MO
- St. Katharine Drexel School of Beaver Dam, WI
- St. Katharine Drexel School of Philadelphia, PA
- Katharine Drexel Elementary School of Broussard, LA
- St. Katharine Drexel School of St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids, MN
- St. Katharine Drexel School of Sioux Falls, SD
See also
- U.S. Catholic saints, blesseds, venerables, and servants of God
- Recipient of the Saint Katharine Drexel medal: Sr. Sandra Smithson, aka: Sr. Maria Crucis, OSF, March 3, 2011.
References
- ^ "XU Quick Facts". Xavier University of Louisiana. http://www.xula.edu/mediarelations/quickfacts.php. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
- ^ "Vatican biography". http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20001001_katharine-drexel_en.html. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
External links
Categories:- 1858 births
- 1955 deaths
- 20th-century Christian female saints
- American Roman Catholic Religious Sisters
- American saints
- American Roman Catholic saints
- Drexel family
- People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Roman Catholic saints
- Founders of Roman Catholic religious communities
- Parishes:
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