Saint Katherine Drexel The Bankers Daughter from Saints Alive: The Gospel Witnessed by Marie Paul Curley, FSP and Mary Lea Hill, FSP Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:19-21). Kate Drexel, the daughter of the Philadelphia banker Francis Drexel, stood in the bright sunlight, staring down at the letter she had just read. So many images and events were whirling around in her head. She was a wealthy young woman with a world of possibilities before her. Her life was full of social engagements, fashionable balls, gala trips to Europe, not to speak of her many charities. But, for years Kate had wanted to enter the convent! She had longed to get off the relentless merry-go-round of life in high society in the elegant 1880s. She had finally wrung the permission from Bishop James O Connor, her former pastor and spiritual mentor, who was now the vicar apostolic of Nebraska. Until now he had asked her to remain active in the life of the Church in Philadelphia. Now, in this letter, the bishop had relented. Her dreams of being a simple, ordinary sister spending her life in quiet prayer and service could begin, but. Kate shook off her thoughts and forced herself to rescan the letter s close handwriting. She again skimmed the beginning with all its prayerful greetings and politeness and focused on that thunderbolt of a paragraph: The more I have thought of your case, the more convinced I become that God has called you to establish an order to help the Indian and Black people. The need for it is clear to everybody.you have the means to make such an establishment. God has put in your heart a great love for the Indian and the Negro. He has given you a taste and a capacity for the sort of business which such a foundation would bring with it. All these things point to your duty more clearly than an inspiration or revelation could. I was never so sure of any vocation, not even of my own, as I am about yours. If you do not establish the order in question, you will allow to pass an opportunity of doing immense service to the Church, which may not occur again. 1
I can t! I just can t! Kate s heart pounded. Everything in her recoiled at the idea of founding an order. What about religious formation? Why, she didn t have the faintest idea of how a postulant should act, never mind how to establish an entirely new religious community! Besides, the whole thing might be one huge disaster; she might even do more harm than good.the objections seemed to jostle one another into the foreground of her thoughts. But there it was the will of God in Bishop O Connor s own handwriting. Really, it was her own fault. To say that Kate Drexel had long considered full-time dedication to the Native American and black population her mission in life was an understatement. In 1885, her father took his three daughters on a train tour of the Northwest. Kate was particularly impressed by the conditions of the Indian tribes. Because even government-sponsored programs had been cut, the people needed everything. The Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions became her favorite charity. She did all in her power to encourage others of means to make it theirs as well. Money from her family had already built missions and schools, obtained better housing, and raised educational levels. When on a pilgrimage to Rome, she had presented further desires and plans to the pope, begging him for missionaries for the black and Native American apostolate. And with his piercing yet fatherly gaze, Leo XXIII had leaned forward bearing a confidential, knowing smile. Why not become a missionary yourself, my child? the Holy Father asked. And here was Bishop O Connor s letter saying the same thing. Suddenly the whole weight of her approaching responsibilities pressed on Kate s very being like a leaden yoke. Yet, this was what God wanted. Your will, not mine, be done. With the guidance of Bishop O Connor, Kate Drexel entered the Sisters of Mercy to prepare herself for what was obviously God s will, the founding of a new congregation. Just a year later, in 1890, her dream seemed to be crumbling. Death snatched away her trusted spiritual father and friend, Bishop O Connor. He had gone to God, but that was little consolation to her. Still a novice, Kate, who had taken the name Mary Katharine, felt alone, completely alone. The bishop was gone. The work, the new community, the rule, the whole plan had been under his direction. She had counted on him, and bitter feelings of her own uselessness and helplessness flooded Sister Katharine s soul. The temptation came strongly, and it would keep coming back: Give up, give up. Forget the whole idea. She could enter the community where she was making her novitiate an older, secure order. She could settle down to a normal religious life, as she had wanted to do in the first place. She 2
hungered for that security. The future seemed like one great, dark unknown. Surely God would understand. But the bishop s words rang clear; hauntingly clear: If you do not establish this order, you will allow to pass an opportunity of doing immense service to the Church, which may never occur again. This was God s doing, not hers. She had to go ahead. On February 12, 1891, Sister Katharine made her first profession within her newly founded community, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. To the three religious vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, she added a fourth the dedication of her entire life to the service of the Native American and black people of America. Young women began to flock to the new foundation. The Drexel family country home in Pennsylvania became the first convent. Years passed. The young community grew and its work expanded. To the Southwest, the mid-south and the deep South, then east and north went Mother Katharine s spiritual daughters. Soon not only the sisters, but all those to whom she gave herself so generously knew that Mother was not merely a title for this remarkable woman. It was a way of life. Indians of every tribe: Navajo, Pueblo, Osage, Cree, Choctaw, and Chickasaw, African- Americans across the country, from Philadelphia to the bayou settlements of Louisiana, from Georgia to the industrial cities of the North all felt the warmth of her love. For Mother Katharine, love was constructive. This woman of quiet dignity, whose former social life had introduced her to the whirlwind of city glamour, knew that what the elite of society and tourists see is one thing; what missionaries and the people they serve see is another. When Mother Katharine sent her sisters to the great American cities, so rich in culture and traditions, she was keenly aware that the people who had created these masterpieces of cultural splendor came from varied backgrounds. She did not view America as a melting pot, but rather as a vivid mosaic, in which every color, every hue of tradition and race, brought out the beauty of the whole. If fearfulness and hesitancy had marked the young socialite at the beginning of her work, a humble self-assurance and determination now characterized Mother Katharine as the founder of the order. When it came to accomplishing her community s mission, she was certain and strong. Years matured her beautiful qualities her gentleness, her compassion and deepened the marvelous practicality and keen business sense the banker s daughter had inherited along with her 3
father s fortune. Time had also deepened the overpowering love she felt for Christ in the person of his black and Native American brothers and sisters. It was this same love, fanned into flame year after year, day after day, that consumed itself in overcoming hatred, bigotry, prejudice and misunderstanding. In the early years of the twentieth century, Mother Katharine purchased land in the South to establish a school for the education of black young people. The deed had already been signed and the papers processed when the property s former owner insisted on retracting the deal. He had been ignorant, he wrote vehemently, of the purpose the land was to be used for. He would give the money back, with the commission he had made, but he insisted that the land be returned to him. In her simple dignity Mother Katharine wrote to him. She explained, clarified points, soothed. With the sharp insight of a banker s daughter and true businesswoman, she spelled out particulars, and she refused to back down. With the Christlike spiritual leadership that was distinctively hers, she pointed out that more than property was in question. Temporal things, after all, are only to be valued inasmuch as they bring us and many others as many as possible, to the same eternal joys for which we were all created, she said. When the furor continued to rage, Mother Drexel held her ground with great kindness and humility, without rancor and with the firm determination that this was, after all, God s cause, not hers. God would have to provide and he did. The matter was settled in her favor and the school opened, and with it the foundation was laid for Xavier University of Louisiana, dedicated to the education of African American students. Kate Drexel would have smiled at the prospect of being considered a leader in the cause of civil rights. Yet almost single-handedly, without billboards or bumper stickers, without rallies or editorials, she waged a campaign for millions of emerging Americans. And noiselessly, steadily, she prevailed. Decades before they were spoken, she had made a life program of the words of Pope Paul VI: Peace must be built: it must be built up, every day, by works of peace. Sister Katharine was working for the cause of Christian brotherhood. And brotherhood is peace. A remarkable American, a remarkable woman, Kate Drexel was equally remarkable as a religious. The vast chain of undertakings the legal red tape, mounds of paperwork, piles of statistics, and financial reports without end never for a moment were those concerns allowed to obscure her vision of the goal: the glory of God and the good of his people. She was not always understood; her work frequently met public disapproval, even hostility. It didn t matter. As she wrote 4
to her closest associates, They can think of me however they wish. All that we are here to accomplish is the mission that God has entrusted to us. We want to fulfill his will quietly, without fanfare. Remember, Sisters, do not seek to be praised, because only God sees the heart. We are here to do God s work. For Mother Katharine Drexel, it was that simple. Prayer: Saint Katharine Drexel, in founding the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Native and African Americans, you not only gifted the Church with a religious community dedicated to the education and betterment of the neglected and persecuted, but you also gave a living example of the preaching of Christ. Jesus taught that his followers should not seek their fortune in this life, and you, who were heiress to millions, sought ways to divest your wealth for the good of others. You surrendered your life to serve those in need as Christ himself had done. May we learn from the example of your long life how to be detached from wealth and power, prestige and influence, in order to place ourselves completely in God s hands, willing to serve where there is need and to give freely when we are able. Lead us also to a tender and confident devotion to Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament, where we will find our true calling in love. Amen. About Saint Katharine Drexel: Born: November 26, 1858, in Philadelphia as Catherine Marie Kate Drexel Died: March 3, 1955, in Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania, of natural causes 5
Feast Day: March 3 Canonized: October 1, 2000, by Pope John Paul II Patron: racial justice, philanthropists Notes on Her Life: She was the second daughter of Francis and Hannah (Langstroth) Drexel, millionaire philanthropists. Her mother died five weeks after Kate s birth. In 1859 Francis married Emma Bouvier. In October 1863 her sister Louise was born. Emma died early in 1882. Kate had a mystical encounter with Our Lady in November 1883. In September 1884 the family visited Indian Territory. Francis Drexel died in 1885, and his daughters inherited the family fortune, to be given to charity at their deaths. In 1887 Kate received an invitation from Leo XIII to become a missionary. In 1889 she entered the Sisters of Mercy with the intention of founding a new community for Native American missions. Sister Mary Katharine Drexel made her first profession on February 12, 1891, and was introduced as the Founder of Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. In 1902 she left to start the first foundation in Arizona. In 1913 the Rule of Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament was approved. In 1915 Xavier University was begun in New Orleans. Some sixty missions and schools were established and maintained by her order. In 1935 Mother Katharine had a heart attack and spent the next twenty years in retirement and prayer. She died at ninety-seven and was buried in the chapel at the motherhouse in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. 6
Lesser-Known Facts: Kate and Elizabeth joined Kate s stepmother in teaching Sunday school to workers children at the Drexels summer home. The Drexel family often traveled extensively around the United States and Europe. After the death of her parents, the three Drexel sisters continued their parents charitable works. Bigots threatened to blow up the motherhouse being constructed for the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. At her death there were five hundred sisters in her order. Contemporary tabloids called her the world s richest nun. In 2000 she became the second American-born saint. In Her Own Words: My sweetest joy is to be in the presence of Jesus in the holy Sacrament. I beg that when obliged to withdraw in body, I may leave my heart before the Blessed Sacrament. When after benediction the priest locks the sacred Host in the tabernacle, I beg Jesus to lock me in the tabernacle until morning. 7
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