Katharine Drexel
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| Saint Katharine Drexel | |
|---|---|
 Katharine Drexel (1858-1955) |
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| Abbess | |
| Born | November 26, 1858, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Died | March 3, 1955 (aged 96), Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 1988 by Pope John Paul II |
| Canonized | 2000 by Pope John Paul II |
| Major shrine | Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania |
| Feast | March 3 |
 Saints Portal |
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Katharine Mary Drexel (November 26, 1858 – March 3, 1955) is a Roman Catholic Saint.
[edit] Life
She was the daughter of Philadelphia banker Francis Anthony Drexel and Hannah Jane Langstroth, his first wife. Her mother died when she was five weeks old. And her father remarried to Emma Boulvier Drexel. Her house was open three times a week to the poor. On 12 February 1891, Katharine founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. From the age of 33 until her death in 1955, she dedicated her life and personal fortune of US $20 million to this work. In 1894, Mother Drexel took part in opening the Sisters' first mission school for Native Americans, St. Katharine Indian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Other schools quickly followed—for Native Americans west of the Mississippi River, and for the African Americans in the southern part of the United States. In 1915 she also founded Xavier University and Xavier Prep in New Orleans.
St. Katharine also founded many chapels, convents, and monasteries. Blessed Sacrament Monastery in Tucson, Arizona is an example of the tasteful architecture that she advocated for religious institutions. At her death in 1955 there were more than 500 Sisters teaching in 63 schools throughout the country.
In 1935, Katharine suffered a severe heart attack, and for the next twenty years she lived in retirement. She died on March 3, 1955, at the age of 96 at St. Elizabeth Convent in Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania.
[edit] Sainthood
Katharine was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 20, 1988. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 2000 to become only the second American-born saint. Her feast day is March 3, the anniversary of her death. She is buried in Cornwells Heights, Bensalem Township.
