The Generosity of a Saint
For the last four years I led a pilgrimage for African Ancestry Ministry and Evangelization to visit the Motherhouses of Congregations of Women Religious which were founded to work among African Americans. Among these Congregations are the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.
The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament were founded by Mother Katharine Drexel at her family estate outside of Philadelphia, and dedicated to the education of Native Americans and African Americans. Mother Katharine was an heiress of the Drexel family – her father was a banker and philanthropist – and she spent her personal Trust Fund to help both of these communities.
One of Mother Katharine’s most noted outreaches was the founding and financing of Xavier University in New Orleans. This university has an outstanding School of Pharmacy and a noted pre-med program. Both Catholics and non-Catholics from North Carolina have attended Xavier. At present Father Marcos Leon is enrolled in the Black Studies Summer Institute there, working toward a Master’s Degree.
Mother Katharine was also very generous to the Church in North Carolina. Among her gifts was $11,000 for the building of St. Mary Pro-Cathedral in Wilmington. This was a tremendous sum in the early 1900s, and it was given with the proviso that St. Thomas, which was the Pro-Cathedral at the time, be kept open for Black Catholics.
Among her other gifts were those to the parish in New ton Grove. When Father James Garneau was Pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Newton Grove, a parish hall was built and named Drexel Hall to commemorate her generosity there and in the Diocese.
Mother Katharine also opened a grammar school for Black girls at the Motherhouse of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. These students went on to become active contributors to their parishes in their adult years.
At Rock Castle in Virginia, Mother Katharine also founded two high schools, St. Emma Military Academy for boys and St. Frances Academy for girls. These institutions were in the mode of finishing schools and produced some outstanding graduates until the 1960s.
Graduates of these schools live here in our Diocese, and they are positive contributors to our society and our churches.
- Msgr. Thomas P. Hadden