From the Desk of Fr. Paul - Homily for the Feast of St. Katharine Drexel

FEAST OF SAINT KATHARINE DREXEL – March 3, 2021
Jeremiah 18:18-20; Psalm 31; Matthew 20:17-28.

We gather to celebrate today and honor our Patron Saint, Katharine Drexel. St. Katharine died, March 3, 1955 and when she was canonized a Saint on October 1, 2000 her name was entered into the Liturgical calendar of the Church and the date of her death – March 3 was designated her Feast Day. 

All of us by reason of our Baptism into Christ are called to holiness, “how each of us responds to that call is part of our unique identity”.
St. Katharine did so with great openness of heart.  She was born in 1858 to Francis Anthony Drexel, a banker, and Hannah Jane Langstroth Drexel, and named Catherine Mary. Her birth mother died just five weeks after giving birth to Catherine.  She and her older sister Elizabeth were initially cared for by her father’s brother and sister-in-law for two years. Her father then married again in 1860 to Emma Bouvier. Her younger sister Louise was born of that marriage in 1863.  

The three girls grew up in a family of both “vast wealth and profound holiness.” The faith life and prayer life of their parents left an indelible mark on the three girls, as did the way both parents recognized that their great wealth was not to be horded to themselves but shared, they reached out constantly to help the poor and share what they had – this value became part of the very lifestyle of the three girls. At first by reaching out to, visiting and helping the poor in their world of Philadelphia. 

Later, however, after their parent’s death the three sisters, at the invitation of two priests they had met, began visiting Native American or Indigenous Peoples reservations around the country.  They used their wealth and influence to help these people to build schools for the children and the sisters also helped to provide for the needs of these people who they witnessed being treated unjustly by society.  

In 1886, Kate also bought a three story house in Philadelphia and turned it a first school for African-American children. Later that same year and early in 1887 Kate was on a trip to Europe and while there was granted a private audience with Pope Leo XIII (one of the first Popes to speak out strongly against the many injustices humanity suffers and calling for that to be corrected). At that meeting Katharine asked the Holy Father to send missionaries for the different reservations the three Drexel sisters supported. She was stunned with his response, but later she would come to accept it as an invitation inspired by the Holy Spirit that would lead her on the path of how she would live her call to holiness.  He said, “My child, why don’t you yourself become a missionary?”  

That was a turning point in her life. Her focus after that became how to make his answer become her way of life. So while her two sisters married, raised their own families while still sharing their wealth with those in need, Katharine acted decisively on the Pope’s invitation and the rest is “her-story”. The same year her sister Louise married 1890, Kate entered the Novitiate of the Mercy Sisters in order to become formed in the life of a Religious, upon being accepted into the Novitiate she was given the name Mary Katharine – which she always preferred to her baptismal name. 

She was with the Mercy Sisters only a year and in 1891 she professed vows as the first member of a new Religious Congregation of women known as the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.  Shortly there -after 12 other women joined her as the nucleus of the Congregation. The whole rest of her life was spent leading and nurturing the foundation and growth of this Congregation of women and living out with them the unique charism of ministry to Native Americans and African Americans, particularly through education, founding many schools for the poor throughout the United States and the first Catholic College for African Americans – now known as Xavier University in New Orleans.

Katharine lived a life that made all the difference for herself and others – in the words of St. Paul it was a life that was “firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord.”  And she knew, teaching her Sisters as well, that despite the struggles experienced, the resistance and doubt of others, and indeed the violence, prejudice and racism they faced and endured because of the focus of their ministry – “that it was in the Lord that their labor was not in vain.”  That trust, that faith in God’s providence was the very foundation of her holiness, and also her constant commitment to seek justice for those to whom she and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament ministered – even to this present day.  

She was a very humble woman, not seeking fame for herself.  She was also very insightful, strong, intelligent, focused and knew how to persuade others to join in supporting the work of the Gospel that she and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament were all about. 

She worked tirelessly to correct what she recognized as the shameful and unjust way that persons of color were treated and were made to experience disadvantage in the educational system predominant at the time.  She also believed deeply in the inherent dignity of all people and formed her Religious Sisters in all those same values.  One of her many words of wisdom to her Sisters captures the appreciation for the dignity of others she wished to imbue in them: “have a cordial respect for others in heart and mind; if there is any prejudice in the mind we must uproot it, or it will pull us down.” 

 There is so much more that could be said about her and her life but bottom line, as we give thanks to God today for Saint Katharine Drexel, let us first, consider ourselves fortunate to be a faith community named for her, knowing that we can live our call to holiness and our life as brothers and sisters in Christ by emulating all that she held sacred and of value.  

Second, let us celebrate and affirm that we have, that we do, and that we must continue to make a difference in our world by how we live our lives as members of this parish. We honor her best by trusting and striving always to live, as she did, the words of Jesus that the Evangelist Matthew recalls in today’s Gospel passage – “whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  

Saint Katharine Drexel, pray for us!