Katharien Drexel, the Millionaire Saint

Today marks the Feast of St. Katharine Drexel (1858-1955), foundress of a religious community. A Philadelphia heiress, she was educated by tutors at home and traveled extensively as a young girl. After her parents’ death, she decided to use her sizeable inheritance in the interests of the Church. She was particularly interested in ministering to Native Americans and African-Americans, but no religious community was specifically engaged in this work. So she decided to start her own. In 1891 the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People was founded. Known as “the Millionaire Nun,” during her lifetime she spent some twenty million dollars of her money (in this respect, a reconciliation with the vow of poverty was worked out for her) on some sixty missions for African-Americans and Native Americans. One of her great triumphs was establishing Xavier University in New Orleans, the nation’s only Black Catholic university. By the time of her death she had founded 49 convents and 62 schools. In 1964 her canonization cause was opened by Philadelphia Archbishop John Krol. She was beatified in 1988 and canonized in 2000. (She is seen in this photo on the right.)