​Resurrection  of  the  Lord  Parish

​​​ Saint Katharine Drexel (1858-1955)  

Diocesan Publication 

Born into Philadelphia society, Katharine was an infant when she lost her mother. Her father remarried and the couple taught their daughters that their wealth was a “gift on loan” to be shared with the poor, whom they fed and cared for in their home. Invited by priest-friends to witness firsthand the destitution on Native American reservations, Katharine resolved to devote her inheritance to this apostolate and enter a contemplative order. When, however, in private audience, she begged Leo XIII to send missionaries to staff the schools she was building, the pope replied, “My child, why not become a missionary yourself?” Katharine renounced a twenty million-dollar fortune and founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, adoring Christ present in the Eucharist and ministering to Christ suffering in victims of racial discrimination. Her Sisters established over sixty schools nationwide, including Xavier University, New Orleans, the first dedicated to professional education for African Americans. In 2000, John Paul II canonized “Mother Drexel,” praising her “excellent example of practical charity and generous solidarity with the less fortunate, long the distinguishing mark of American Catholics.”

—Peter Scagnellia

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