The Saint from Philadelphia: St. Katharine Drexel

From colonial times, the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has had a rich Catholic tradition and has played an important role in history of the Catholic Church in America.  An important contributor to Philadelphia Catholicism was the Drexel Family. 

For many, the trappings of wealth and fortune can be serious impediments to a holy life.  This was not the case of the Drexel family and most especially, Katharine Drexel.  The patriarch of the family, Francis Anthony, was a highly successful investment banker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  His brother Anthony founded Drexel University, also in Philadelphia.   Francis and his wife Hannah Jane had two daughters,    Elizabeth and Katharine.  Katharine was born on 26 November 1858, and five weeks later Hannah died.   For the next several years, Anthony and his wife cared for the two girls.  In 1860, Katharine’s father married Emma Bouvier. Together they had a daughter Louisa.  Emma loved her two step-daughters as she did her own biological daughter.  From her parents, Katharine learned charity and faith.  A family friend, Father James O’Connor, became her spiritual adviser.  When Katharine was in her early 20s, Emma became afflicted with cancer and died after three years of suffering.  Then Katharine’s father died in 1885. 

Also in her 20s, Katharine began experiencing a calling to religious life and she became aware of the plight of Native Americans.  In the late 1880s, she and her sisters traveled to the American West with James O’Connor, who by now was Bishop of Omaha, Nebraska, and saw firsthand the dire poverty of Native Americans.   Using her share of the inheritance from her father, Katharine began funding the construction of schools on reservations and providing other means of physical support for the Native Americans.  In 1889, Bishop O’Connor advised her to form a religious order to help Native Americans and blacks.  On February 12, 1891, Katharine professed her vows as the first Sister of the Blessed Sacrament.  Though headquartered in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, the new order established and supported schools all across the country and in particular, helped Native Americans and blacks.  She founded over 60 missions and schools, including Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana.  She died on 3 March 1955.  She was entombed at the headquarters of her order in Bensalem. 

Katharine Drexel was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II on 20 November 1988 and canonized by him on 1 October 2000.   “With great courage and confidence in God's grace, she chose to give not just her fortune but her whole life totally to the Lord,” the Pope said at her canonization Mass. She was the second American-born person to be canonized. 

Originally, Katharine was entombed at the Mother House of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in Bensalem.  On 2 August 2018, her sacred remains were relocated to the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.  Dedicated on 20 November 1864, the Cathedral Basilica is also the Mother Church of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.   When you enter the Cathedral Basilica, St. Katharine’s tomb is located immediately to your left.  

You can learn more about Saint Katharine Drexel and her shrine at https://cathedralphila.org/drexel/ .  You can also visit the website of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament  https://www.katharinedrexel.org/st_katharine_drexel_overview/  to learn more about St. Katharine Drexel and the order that she founded.