Table of Contents Categories
  Encyclosphere.org ENCYCLOREADER
  supported by EncyclosphereKSF

Katharine Drexel

From Wikipedia - Reading time: 15 min

Saint

Katharine Drexel

S.B.S.
Katherine-drexel.jpg
St. Katharine Drexel
Foundress
Born(1858-11-26)November 26, 1858
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedMarch 3, 1955(1955-03-03) (aged 96)
Bensalem, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
BeatifiedNovember 20, 1988 by Pope John Paul II
CanonizedOctober 1, 2000 by Pope John Paul II
Major shrineCathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Philadelphia, U.S.
FeastMarch 3
PatronagePhilanthropy, racial justice
Entrance to the Drexel shrine in Bensalem, PA

Katharine Drexel, SBS (born Catherine Mary Drexel; November 26, 1858 – March 3, 1955) was an American heiress, philanthropist, religious sister, educator, and foundress of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. She was the second person born in what is now the United States to be canonized as a saint and the first one born a U.S. citizen.

Life before taking religious vows[edit]

Katharine Mary Drexel was born Catherine Marie Drexel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 26, 1858, to Francis Anthony Drexel and Hannah Langstroth. She had an older sister, Elizabeth. Her family owned a considerable banking fortune, and her uncle Anthony Joseph Drexel was the founder of Drexel University in Philadelphia. She was a distant cousin of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis on her father's side.

Langstroth died five weeks after Katherine's birth and Anthony Joseph and his wife Ellen cared for Katherine and Elizabeth for two years after. Her father remarried Emma Bouvier in 1860, brought his older children home, and had a third daughter, Louise, in 1863.[1]

The girls grew up in a wealthy and religious household with charitable principles. Emma would regularly host people in need at the home to distribute food and clothing.[2]

Religious work[edit]

After she took religious vows, and took the name Mother Katharine, dedicating herself and her inheritance to the needs of oppressed Native Americans and African-Americans in the southern, western and southwestern United States, and was a vocal advocate of racial tolerance. Joined by 13 other women, she then established a religious congregation, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to further this cause. She also financed more than 60 missions and schools around the United States, as well as the founding of Xavier University of Louisiana[3] – the only historically Black and Catholic university in the United States.

Sainthood[edit]

Drexel is one of only a few American saints and the second American-born saint (Elizabeth Ann Seton was a natural-born US citizen, born in New York City in 1774 and canonized in 1975).

Drexel was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 20, 1988, when her first miracle through prayer—healing the severe ear infection of teenage Robert Gutherman in 1974—was accepted.[4] She was canonized on October 1, 2000,[5] when her 1994 miracle of reversing congenital deafness in 2-year old Amy Wall was recognized.[6]

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.[citation needed])

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[edit]

See also: List of shrines § United States

The Saint Katharine Drexel Mission Center and National Shrine[7] is located in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. The Mission Center[8] offers retreat programs, historic site tours, days of prayer, presentations about Saint Katharine Drexel, as well as lectures and seminars related to her legacy. Furniture and exhibits tell the story of 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.[9] Originally known as St. Elizabeth's Convent, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[10]

In August, 2018, Drexel's remains were transferred to a new shrine at the.Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.

Relics[edit]

Katharine Drexel's tomb at Philadelphia Cathedral

A second-class relic of Drexel can be found inside the altar of the Mary chapel at St. Raphael the Archangel Catholic Church in Raleigh, North Carolina,[11] and in the Day Chapel of Saint Katharine Drexel Parish in Sugar Grove, Illinois.

Namesakes[edit]

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

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

Parishes[edit]

Schools[edit]

Schools St. Katharine Drexel founded or funded include (but are not limited to):

  • Xavier University of Louisiana
  • St. Benedict the Moor School
  • Blessed Sacrament Catholic School, Beaumont, Texas
  • Sacred Heart Catholic School, Port Arthur, Texas.
  • St. Joseph Indian Normal School, now called Drexel Hall, on the campus of St. Joseph's College, Rensselaer, Indiana. The Indian Normal School operated from 1888 to 1896. A school for boys, the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative indicates children were "taken" from reservations in order to matriculate here. See page 350 of cited source.[15]
  • St. Michael Indian School, serving grades K–12 in St. Michaels, Arizona
  • St. Mark School, the first in New York City for African-American Catholic children
  • Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church and School, Founded 1912, Atlanta, Georgia
  • St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church and School, Founded 1932, Nashville, Tennessee
  • St. Ignatius of Loyola Parish was founded in 1893. St. Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament opened St. Ignatius of Loyola School in 1926. The school moved to its current facility in 1967 in Philadelphia. [16]
  • St. Emma's Industrial and Agricultural Institute (later St. Emma Military Academy for Boys) founded on the Belmead Plantation near Powhatan, Virginia in 1897
  • St. Frances de Sales School for Girls founded on the Belmead Plantation near Powhatan, Virginia in 1899
  • St. Peter Claver Catholic School in Macon, Georgia, in 1913 with the help of Bishop Benjamin Kiely and Father Ignatius Lissner.
  • Kate Drexel Industrial Boarding School, on the Umatilla Reservation in Pendleton, Oregon. Operated from 1847 to least as late as 1929. See page 185 of cited source.[15]
  • St. John's School for Osage Indian Boys, Blackburn, Oklahoma. Operated from 1888 to 1913, reportedly at the request of the Osage Nation. See page 347 of cited source.[15]
  • St. Mary's Indian Industrial School, on the Turtle Mountain Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota. Operated from 1884 to 1910. See page 359 of cited source.[15]

Schools named in her honor include:

Churches and chapels[edit]

The choir loft window in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Sioux, Saint Joseph's Indian School, Chamberlain, South Dakota, was donated by the Drexel Family.

Streets[edit]

Drexel Avenue, Oak Creek, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. (Drexel Towne Centre, Oak Creek, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.)

Other[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "St. Katharine Drexel". Sisters Of The Blessed Sacrament. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  2. ^ "The Other Drexel: Louise Drexel Morrell". Catholic Historical Research Center of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. 2010-04-09. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  3. ^ "XU Quick Facts". Xavier University of Louisiana. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
  4. ^ "This Man's Ear Was Miraculously Healed, Thanks to St. Katharine Drexel". NCR. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  5. ^ "Canonization". Sisters Of The Blessed Sacrament. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  6. ^ "Pope declares miracle, clears way for sainthood Girl's cure is 2nd to be attributed to Mother Drexel". Deseret News. 2000-01-29. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  11. ^ St. Raphael the Archangel Catholic Church, Raleigh, North Carolina
  12. ^ St. Katherine Drexel Parish, Cape Coral, Florida
  13. ^ SKD Parish Beaver Dam, WI
  14. ^ St. Joseph's Shrine of St. Katharine Drexel, Columbia, Virginia Archived 2014-07-11 at archive.today, richmonddiocese.org; accessed October 19, 2014.
  15. ^ a b c d https://www.bia.gov/sites/default/files/dup/inline-files/appendix_a_b_school_listing_profiles_508.pdf
  16. ^ "History".
  17. ^ Pope, John. "Xavier University chapel will 'create an air of beauty and mystery'". Times Picayune. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  18. ^ David Leighton, "Street Smarts: Generous nun the namesake for Drexel Road," Arizona Daily Star, March 14, 2014
  19. ^ "FLP – Katharine Drexel Branch". Free Library of Philadelphia.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 | Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Drexel
2 views | Status: cached on January 10 2023 18:10:17
↧ Download as ZWI file
Encyclosphere.org EncycloReader is supported by the EncyclosphereKSF