Mother Drexel, soon to be St. Katherine Drexel,
was helping Indian and black children
long before the start of the Civil Rights movement.

Our newest saint
By Rawley Myers

On October 1 this year Pope John Paul II will canonize in St. Peter’s Basilica the newest American saint, Mother Katherine Drexel of Philadelphia.

The new saint will be unique in the fact that she is the first Catholic born in America to be canonized. Mother Seton was born in New York City, but she was a convert. Mother Cabrini was from Italy but much of her apostolate was here and she became an American citizen. Mother Duchesne was from France but lived here for many years. St. John Neumann, fourth bishop of Philadelphia, was from Bohemia.

Katherine Drexel was from a very wealthy family. In business and philanthropy and in the social world and the world of art, the name Drexel ranked high in Philadelphia in the first part of this century. They were leaders in commercial interests; the family also established a fine vocational school, the Drexel Institute, including the Drexel School of Industrial Art and School of Design. They were patrons too of schools, hospitals, orphanages and homes for the elderly and other institutions of mercy. But the greatest gift this very rich family gave to America was their granddaughter, Katherine. She in time was to inherit the great family wealth and she spent millions of it building schools for Indian children and for African-American children. She then founded a religious congregation, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People, and with these Sisters devoted her life to their schools. She herself renounced her wealth and took the vow of poverty and became a simple Sister, superior of the congregation, Mother Drexel. That in itself was heroic. For the money now did not belong to her but to the religious community. She lived a most sacrificial life, all for the minority children, all for the glory of God.

Mother Drexel, soon to be St. Katherine Drexel, was helping Indian and African-American children before the turn of the century, long before the Civil Rights movement, long before it was popular to do so. She is a great American pioneer in this field, although American history books do not mention her name. Are they not biased? Historian Arthur Schlessinger said that anti-Catholicism is now the anti-Semitism of the intellectuals in this country.

When at a gathering of bishops in Baltimore a plea was made to help the Indian and black children, Katherine answered the challenge. At the time of her death she had spent more than 20 million dollars of the family fortune to aid these minority youth. She founded nearly 70 schools and also Xavier University in New Orleans. She established three houses of social service, and a mission center staffed by her Sisters.

Katherine gave up wealth to serve the needy and to serve Jesus. She said it was never a sacrifice but a privilege. She said she gave back to God what God had given to her.

When she was born in 1858 it was not thought that she would live. The father asked the family and friends for prayers. The child seemed too weak to survive. The mother asked weakly, “Is the baby all right?” He tried to reassure her. She said, “Let’s name her for your mother, Katherine. It is a beautiful name.” She closed her eyes too weary to say more.

Francis, the father, while the mother slept, was so worried he took a glass of water to the crib and baptized his new daughter, fearful she might not make it through the night. The doctors did not have much hope.

Katherine was a fighter and the little baby made it, but then the mother was very ill. That Christmas was an unhappy day for the Drexel family. The mother died soon after.

The father was so lonely and the crying of the baby for her mother made him feel lonelier still. His only solace was work at the bank. The Drexels were an important banking family.

In time, Francis, Katherine’s father, married again. His new wife was Emma Bouvier, from an old wealthy and cultured Philadelphia family. Kate and her sister Lizzie loved their new mother. The bank prospered and became a large national financial power. Then a new sister, Louise, was born. And it was then that a nursemaid came to the family, Johanna, a devout and affectionate woman who remained with the family for forty years, until she died.

In their large family home the Drexels had a room set aside for an oratory with a beautiful marble statue of Our Lady. During the summer they went to live in their house in the country. Sometimes they went to the seashore.

Priests often visited their home. One was Father James O’Connor. He was working in the West with the Indians. He told of their miserable conditions. Katie listened intently. He later became Bishop of Omaha.

As a bishop in 1878 he came East and spent some days with the Drexels. He again told of the sad plight of the Indians.

Then their second mother died. The girls and their father were so sad they took a trip out West. Missionary priests took them to visit the very poor Indian villages. In one the chapel had no statues. Later, Katherine sent them a beautiful one of the Blessed Mother.

Next their father died. The three children found comfort in carrying on his charitable works. And they sent special money to the Indian missions.

The government promised all kinds of things to the Indians, but, for the most part, never got around to helping them.

Again the girls went West. They especially wanted to see the Indian school they were supporting. A Mass was held in the chapel to welcome them. It was full of well-behaved children, squaws in bright-colored shawls and dresses, some with papooses on their backs, and long-haired braves. When Kate learned at another mission that Indian children were turned away from the school because it was too small, she gave at once $8,000 to build more classrooms.

These Indian schools had a hard time getting teachers. There then formed in the back of her mind an idea to found a religious community for just these schools. But was she worthy to do so, Kate asked herself.

Kate at length made a momentous decision. She would become a Sister. And then establish a religious Sisterhood.

She made a novitiate in a convent. She was not young and suffered a good deal for she was treated just like the other young girl novices. But always her dream gave her strength. Many of her relatives could not figure her out, giving up all her millions, but they said, “She is happy and that is what counts.”

In time she got approval for her Sisters. Others joined her. Archbishop Patrick John Ryan of Philadelphia spoke at their first convent. He spoke of Katherine and her “ambition to work among the poor and neglected,” and how noble this is. He said, “Thousands of Indians and black children unite their voice with mine in crying out to you, ‘Come, we have waited for you! God is sending you. Come!’”

Soon after word came of an Indian uprising in Dakota territory. A new Indian agent had become alarmed about something and called in government troops. This angered the Indians. Holy Rosary mission of the Blessed Sacrament Sisters was in the middle of the conflict. The Sisters, expecting the worst, kept the Blessed Sacrament exposed in their chapel and all prayed all day before the Eucharist. And they were spared.

Mother Drexel often prayed, “Dear Lord, may we win souls, many souls, to you, with you, for you.” When she visited their far-flung missions she told the Sisters, “It is God who has called you here, and it is God who will sustain you here.”

Later, on a train, visiting in Virginia, Mother Katherine thought she saw a cross painted gold gleaming through the pine trees. No one knew of any church in the vicinity. When she visited her school for black children in the area, one of the students knew of the chapel. Mother went there to see it. It was closed, but very clean. As they were leaving they met Uncle Zeke, an old black man. He said, “I come to clean here every morning and say a prayer that there’ll someday be a Mass here again.”

Mother Katherine was deeply moved by his faithfulness and devotion. And Sisters were sent to teach catechism in the chapel. And then she persuaded the Bishop of Richmond to send a priest to offer Mass there every month. And before long they had a regular school.

One of their rural schools for blacks was burned down in Louisiana. Mother Drexel at once built another school.

Mother Katherine at every opportunity spoke out about the needs of blacks and Indians. She was thin and frail and spoke in a soft voice, but her blue eyes and her words showed with what strength she spoke out for the oppressed.

In 1928 Mother was nearly seventy, but she never slowed down. She continued to visit her schools in far distant places. She was more than certain this was what Jesus wanted, and she never tired of working for him with joy.

When Xavier college for black students was established by her in New Orleans, many opposed it. But she went right ahead; she was used to resistance from hard-hearted Christians. And over the door she put the words, “God’s Greatest Work On Earth Is Man. Man’s Master Art Is the Leading of Men to God.” This present university has done a world of good for so many thousands of poor youth.

The Archbishop of Santa Fe told her, “In nearly every pueblo and reservation, we find Indians old and young who have benefited by the training of your Sisters.” A New Jersey bishop said, “Among blacks I often hear your name pronounced with reverence.”

This is America’s newest saint.

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