“Teach children with joy. They will be attracted by joy, the source of all joy, the heart of Jesus.’
Katharine was born in Philadelphia in 1858 and was the 2nd child of a prominent and wealthy banker and his wife. Her mother died just 5 weeks after her birth and he re-married. They had a daughter together and the girls received a great education from private tutors while traveling throughout the U.S. and Europe. Even while they traveled, they were devout in their practice of faith.
She grew up seeing her father devoted to prayer and her stepmother opening their doors to care for the poor. They sought out to help women who were too afraid or proud to approach.
She watched as her stepmother suffered with terminal cancer for 3 years and learned that no amount of money could shelter them from pain or suffering and Katherine’s life took a turn. She became imbued with a passionate love for God and neighbor, especially with the native Americans, after a tour of the Western states.
Her father died in 1885 and the Drexel sisters inherited a very large sum of money. Their first act was to donate money to assist the St. Francis Mission in South Dakota but Katharine wanted to do more.
In 1887, they were touring Europe and visited with Pope Leo XIII to request missionaries for missions they sought to finance. The Pope suggested that Katharine to become a missionary and head it up herself. She spoke with their local priest and decided to give herself and inheritance to God, and joined the Sisters of Mercy Convent in Pittsburgh and making her vows in 1891.
She started her own Order and in 1894 she took part in opening the 1st mission boarding school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Other schools quickly followed for Native Americans west of the Mississippi and for African American’s in the southern regions.
In 1915, she founded Xavier University in New Orleans, the 1st Catholic University in the U.S. for African Americans. In 1922, a local KKK group turned against one of their schools with malicious threats. The sisters prayed and days later, a tornado destroyed the KKK headquarters, killing 2 of the members. They were never threatened again.
She suffered a heart attack at the age of 77 and was forced to retire spending the remainder of her life in quiet and intense prayer. She died in 1955 at the age of 96. She was canonized in 2000 by Pope John Paul II.
By the time of her death, she had more than 500 sisters teaching in 63 schools throughout the country and she established 50 missions for Native American’s in 16 different states.
She is the patron saint of racial justice and of philanthropists.
Her feast day is March 3.
For God’s Glory.
