Consuming zeal for souls

 

 

 

 

 “The offspring of this intensity

of love for our Eucharistic Lord

should be a consuming zeal

for the gathering of souls

into the fold of Christ.”

 

 

St Katharine Drexel

American, 1858 - 1955

Foundress - Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament

aka 'the anti-Margaret Sanger'

FEAST DAY - March 3

 

 

 

 

 

"Oh, how far I am at 84 years of age from being an image

of Jesus in His sacred life on earth!" - St. Katharine Drexel

 

 

Sta Katharine Drexel, ora pro nobis!

More on St Katharine Drexel...

Born to an extremely wealthy family, Katharine Marie Drexel (1858-1955) (often called Kate by her family members) was taught by her good parents to use her wealth for the benefit for others. The family even opened their house several days a week for the poor. Her sisters too did use their wealth for the benefit of others when they were older. Katherine's older sister opened a school in Pennsylvania for orphans, and her younger sister founded liberal arts school for the poor in Virginia. Katharine also had a favorite saint, St. Francis of Assisi.

Around the age of 25, Katharine was given a message by Our Lady, "Freely you have received; freely give."

Katharine became interested in the condition of the Native Americans so she asked Pope Leo XIII in 1887 to send more missionaries to Wyoming for a friend who was a Bishop. The Pope replied, "Why don't you become a missionary?"

So later, Katharine visited Dakota, helped in whatever the missionaries needed, and in the process she spent millions of the family fortune. She entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Mercy, and later founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored, but now it is simply called the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Katharine was advised by St. Frances Cabrini on getting the Order's rule approval in Rome.

By 1942 she had a system of black Catholic schools in 13 states, 40 mission centers, 23 rural schools, 50 Indian missions, and Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, the first United States university for blacks. Katharine died at age ninety-six in 1955.