Catherine DeHueck Doherty (1896-1985)

Catherine Doherty was a social activist and foundress of the Madonna House Apostolate. A pioneer of social justice and a renowned national speaker, Catherine was also a prolific writer of hundreds of articles, best-selling author of dozens of books, and a dedicated wife and mother. Her cause for canonization as a saint is under consideration by the Catholic Church. Her family belonged to the minor nobility in Russia and she was raised Russian Orthodox. During World War I she served as a nurse on the Eastern Front. Forced to flee Russia with her husband during the Revolution, she was received into the Roman Catholic Church in 1919. She went to Toronto, and became a lecturer throughout North America, but she wanted to do something more. During the Depression she lived in the slums of Toronto working with the poor, an apostolate she expanded to Harlem. It was known as Friendship House. In 1954 she established Madonna House in Toronto, which became a center for the lay apostolate.