<p>St. Katharine Drexel was born Catherine Marie Drexel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 26, 1858.&nbsp; She was the second child of investment banker Francis Anthony Drexel and Hannah Langstroth.&nbsp; Her family owned a considerable fortune, and her uncle Anthony Joseph Drexel was founder of Drexel University in Philadelphia.&nbsp; Her mom died five weeks after childbirth, and their aunt and uncle Ellen and Anthony Drexel cared for Katharine and her sister Elizabeth. &nbsp; When her dad remarried Emma Bouvier in 1860, he brought the two daughters home.&nbsp; They had a third daughter, Louise, born in 1863.&nbsp; The girls were educated at home by tutors.&nbsp; They also had the advantage of touring the United States and Europe with their parents.&nbsp; The family distributed food, clothing, and rent assistance from their family home, twice a week, believing in helping the poor. &nbsp;</p> <p>As a wealthy young woman, she nursed her stepmother through three-years of terminal cancer.&nbsp; She realized that the Drexel money could not buy safety from pain, or death, and her life took a profound turn.&nbsp; She had always been interested in the plight of the Indians.&nbsp; The family took a trip to the Western part of the United States in 1884, and Catharine saw first hand, the plight and destitution of the native Indian-Americans.&nbsp; This aroused her desire to do something specific to help alleviate their condition.&nbsp; This began her lifelong support, both personal and financial, of numerous missions and missionaries in the United States.&nbsp; After her father&rsquo;s death in 1885, she and her sisters contributed money to help the St. Francis Mission on South Dakota&rsquo;s Rosebud Reservation. &nbsp;</p> <p>Catherine and her sisters were recovering from the father&rsquo;s death when they went to Europe in 1886.&nbsp; In 1887, during a private audience with Pope Leo XIII, she asked him for missionaries to staff some of the Indian missions that she was financing.&nbsp; She was surprised to hear the Pope suggest she become a missionary herself.&nbsp; She could have easily been married, but consulted with her spiritual director Bishop James O&rsquo;Connor, and made the decision to give herself to God.&nbsp; She also decided to take her inheritance, and be of service to American Indians and African-Americans.&nbsp; In 1889, she entered the Sisters of Mercy Convent in Pittsburgh to begin her six-month postulancy.&nbsp; Her decision rocked the Philadelphia social circles.&nbsp; Her father&rsquo;s estate in today&rsquo;s worth would be around $250 million.&nbsp; The three girls would have divided this. &nbsp;</p> <p>On February 12, 1891 she professed her first vows as a religious, dedicating herself to work among the American Indians and African-Americans in the western and southwestern United States.&nbsp; She took the name Mother Katharine, and joined by thirteen other women, established a Religious Congregation, &ldquo;The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament&rdquo;.&nbsp; Mother Cabrini advised her about he &ldquo;politics&rdquo; of getting her Order&rsquo;s Rule approved in Rome.&nbsp; She felt a compassionate urgency to help change racial attitudes in the United States.&nbsp; The Georgia Legislature in 1913, hoping to stop the Blessed Sacrament Sisters from teaching at Macon School, tried to pass a law that would have prohibited white teachers from teaching black students. &nbsp;</p> <p>Her and her first band of Nuns opened a boarding school in Santa Fe.&nbsp; By 1942 she had a system of black Catholic schools in 13 states, plus 40 mission centers and 23 rural schools.&nbsp; Segregationists harassed her work, even burning a school in Pennsylvania.&nbsp; In all, she established 50 missions for Indians in 16 States.&nbsp; The most famous foundation was made in 1915, it was Xavier University, New Orleans, the first such institution for Black people in the United States.&nbsp; When purchasing an abandoned university for this project, vandals smashed every window.&nbsp; In Beaumont Texas, the local Klansmen posted a threat on the door of the Sisters, telling them to get out.&nbsp; That evening a violent storm ripped through Beaumont, destroying a building that served as the Klan&rsquo;s headquarters.&nbsp; She didn&rsquo;t have any more problems from them. &nbsp;</p> <p>Over the course of 60 years, up to her death in 1955 at the age of 96, Mother Katharine spent about $20 million in support of her work, building schools, Churches, and paying the salaries of teachers in rural schools for African Americans and Indians. &nbsp;</p> <p>In 1935 Mother Katharine suffered a heart attack, and in 1937 she relinquished the office of Superior General.&nbsp; Though gradually becoming more infirm, she was able to devote her last years to Eucharistic Adoration, fulfilling her life&rsquo;s desire.&nbsp; She died at the age of 96, at Cornwell Heights, Pennsylvania on March 3, 1955.&nbsp; The St. Katharine Drexel Mission Center and National Shrine is located in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.&nbsp; The Mission Center offers retreat programs, historic site tours, days of prayers, and presentations about St. Katharine Drexel, as well as lectures and seminars related to her legacy.&nbsp; Her tomb lies under the main Altar in St. Elizabeth Chapel, originally known as St. Elizabeth&rsquo;s Convent.&nbsp; Pope John Paul II beatified St. Katharine Drexel on November 20, 1988, and canonized her on October 1, 2000.&nbsp; She was the second American-born saint to be canonized; with Elizabeth Ann Seton being the first.&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Practical Take Away</strong></span></p> <p>St. Katharine Drexel was born Catherine Marie Drexel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 26, 1858.&nbsp; She was the second child of investment banker Francis Anthony Drexel and Hannah Langstroth.&nbsp; Her family owned a considerable fortune, and her uncle Anthony Joseph Drexel was founder of Drexel University in Philadelphia.&nbsp; After the passing of her father and stepmother, she entered the religious life.&nbsp; She founded the Congregation, &ldquo;The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament&rdquo;. By 1942 she had founded a system of black Catholic schools in 13 states, plus 40 mission centers and 23 rural schools.&nbsp; In addition, she established 50 missions for Indians in 16 States.&nbsp; The most famous foundation was made in 1915, it was Xavier University, New Orleans, the first such institution for Black people in the United States.&nbsp; She was the second American born saint to be canonized, with Elizabeth Ann Seton being the first. &nbsp;</p>