Saint Katherine Drexel
Born: November 26, 1858 in Philadelphia
Died: March 3, 1955
Canonized: March 10, 2000
Katherine’s father: Francis was a nationally known self-made millionaire through banking and investments.
Katherine’s mother: Hannah. She died one month after giving birth to Katherine.
Francis remarried a woman named Emma Bouvier. They both were devout Catholics. The Drexel home was a prayerful and charitable home. Prayer was like breathing in the Drexel home. Three times per week Emma would help Philadelphia’s poor from the back of her home.
Katherine and her sister Elizabeth would learn to help the poor at a very young age.
Katherine (Kate) kept a spiritual journal to help her development. In it she stated she had to work hard to overcome pride and vanity.
In 1870 the family bought a farm on the outskirts of Philadelphia. They called the farm St. Michael. Near the farm was a convent school where Kate regularly attended Mass. She loved Mass and receiving Holy Communion. Once after Mass she fainted. It turned out she had fallen off her horse on the way to Mass and had broken her collarbone. She didn’t let it deter her from attending Mass!
At the age of 20 Kate made her social debut. This was a common custom of the time and the Drexel’s were part of Philly’s social elite. However they were considered “second tear”, not “high society”, as they were not from inherited money and they were Catholic. The expectations for Katherine, is that she would soon meet her husband and settle into a life of luxury. However, this wasn’t happening and during this period Katherine was already discerning a religious vocation.
She was no doubt partly influenced by Emma who much preferred serving the poor rather than socialize with the rich.
Emma was stricken with cancer and Katherine looked after her. It made a real impression on Katherine that even the wealthy too die and this only heightened her discernment for a vocation of service. When Emma died she had already given away half a million dollars and was paying the rents for one hundred and fifty poor people in Philadelphia.
After Emma died Katherine wanted to become a nun right away. Bishop O’Conner, a friend of the Drexel’s, told Kate to “think, pray and wait”. He told her to limit herself to one and a half hours of prayer per day. (Imagine that – a young woman having to LIMIT herself down to one and a half hours per day! Could someone say that about us?)
Katherine made a vow of virginity binding for one year during this discerning process.
Katherine’s father Francis was proud of himself that he had recently made up a will which would take care of his daughters should anything happen to him. Ironically it was shortly after that that he died unexpectedly following a case of pleurisy. Francis left one tenth of his fortune to charities and had the rest divided amongst his three girls, but invested so that the girls would have a large income for the rest of their lives.
After Katherine’s father died she took a trip to Europe. While there she was able to have an audience with Pope Leo XIII. When she met the Pope she told him that more missionaries were needed to help the Native American’s in Wyoming. The Pope responded by saying, “then why not my child, you become a missionary?” This actually made Katherine feel quite sick. She even began sobbing because she really wanted to become a contemplative nun.
After her return from Europe, Katherine took a trip out west with Bishop O’Connor and a priest named Fr. Stephen. She was now 29 years old and felt drawn to help support the Native American people. During this trip she helped finance new schools for Native Americans. Bishop O’Connor told her he felt she could do more to help others and give glory to God without the convent life. She finally convinced Bishop O’Connor that she wanted to become a nun and he gave her his blessing.
Katherine still struggled with her future though. She still wanted to be a contemplative nun and worried how she would do in community life and how she could place herself under the obedience of a superior whom she might find to be “stupid”. Under Bishop O’Connor’s direction she went to the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh.
Soon after that her beloved spiritual advisor and friend Bishop O’Connor died. Archbishop Patrick J. Ryan stepped in to help her. Katherine still wanted to help the Native American peoples. At 33 years of age Katherine became a nun and founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for the Indians and Colored Peoples. The money provided for her from her father’s will, gave the new order $1000.00 per day to finance their work.
The new sisters went to Santa Fe, New Mexico and staffed a mission school that operated until 1999. They established a mission for Navajo’s in Arizona. They also started helping African Americans in the Eastern United States. They founded the St. Francis de Sales School for black girls in Virginia. This work brought controversy and opposition from some prejudiced segments of white society. The sisters faced their share of ill will. A fire was once deliberately set to a barn of one of the Sister’s schools.
Katherine’s order also had a 40 year apostolate to nearby prisons. She wanted to buy a piece of land to establish a school of black girls in Nashville. The man who was selling would not have wanted it to go for that purpose. Bishop Byrne of Nashville stepped in and helped her buy it and the Immaculate Conception Academy of Nashville for black girls became a reality. The school operated until 1954.
Later Katherine got her new religious orders Rule approved.
She became friends with Mother Cabrini who later became a Saint.
When she was in her 50’s, Katherine opened missions in Columbus, Ohio, New York and Chicago.
She caught typhoid fever while visiting Santa Fe and had to rest. She recovered and went right back to work with a passion.
Katherine opened a black college in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was called Xavier University and was the only historically black college in the United States.
Spiritually Katherine drew her strength from the Blessed Sacrament. (Like so many of the greats)
When she was in her upper 70’s she suffered a minor heart attack, fainting spells and eventually a major heart attack. At this point Katherine realized it was time for her to transfer her numerous responsibilities. Now she could become the contemplative nun that she always wanted to be from the beginning.
An altar was placed in Katharine’s room. Twice a day she would pray 15 decades of the rosary. Her first and greatest love was always Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
Katharine was described as being energetic, joyful and engaging. She was not a stiff and when she learned a young novice was to join the order she would respond, “Oh goody, goody, goody.”
Katharine died March 3, 1955. Her funeral Mass was held in Philadelphia’s Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul. The bishop of Philadelphia celebrated the Mass and more than 250 bishops, priests and brothers assisted. The same church that young Katharine attended as a child overflowed with people celebrating her life at her funeral Mass. Her body was interred in a crypt beneath the chapel of St. Elizabeth. Many pilgrims continue to visit the chapel and become inspired by this woman’s holy life of following Jesus.
Katharine Drexel was canonized by Pope John Paul the Great, March 10, 2000
Quotes from Saint Katharine Drexel:
“There is no other way to Heaven. No one’s face is toward Heaven when it is not toward Calvary.” – (While meditating before the crucifix)
“The religious need strength. Near the tabernacle the soul finds strength, consolation and resignation. The religious need virtue. Jesus is the model of virtues in the Blessed Sacrament. The religious need hope. In the Blessed Sacrament we possess the most precious pledge of our hope” – (Explaining what prayer before the Blessed Sacrament offers)
“Every activity is a spiritual exercise preparing me for the coming of Christ- when He shall come to me at the hour of death.”
“It is hard to suffer patiently and lovingly. I offer it as a prayer for mercy for innumerable sins and to obtain grace to do so through Mary, uniting my suffering to Our Lord in the host.”
Credits and thanks to Tom Kreitzberg and Tim Drake – Saints of the Jubilee, 1rst Books Library, www.1rstbooks.com
Saint Katharine Drexel Prayer
Ever Loving God, you called Saint Katharine to teach the message of the Gospel and to bring the life of the Eucharist to the Black and Native American people.
By her prayers and example enable us to work for justice among the poor and oppressed. Draw us all into the Eucharistic community of your Church that we may be one in you.
Grant this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, one God, forever and ever. Amen