Richest Girl in the World…gives it up to start a Catholic Religious Congregation?!

That actually happened—and not very long ago. And it was an American girl who has a very strong local connection to the Holy Heroes family. Read on and we’ll tell you all about it–and how to get a relic, too!

Saint Katharine Drexel was the heiress to the Drexel fortune, one of 3 sisters who would share in it when their father died in 1885. She may not have been the very richest girl in the entire world–but if not, she was very very very close to being the richest!

Her father was a very wealthy man who was also tremendously generous. He stipulated in his will that 10% immediately go to charity (a tithe) and that a selection of Catholic charities would receive the rest of his estate–but not until the death of his children. Until the time that his last living child died, all the income from the estate would be divided up between the children still alive and paid to them regularly.

How much do you think that income was? It was over $3,000 per day! In the 1800’s that was worth even more than it is today (and it’s fabulous wealth today)!

When both her sisters died, Katharine received all that money for herself for the rest of her life. But by the time her last sister died, Katharine was a religious sister who used all that money from her father’s estate to support the work of the religious congregation she founded: The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.

You can learn a lot about her life down below in our short “Did You Know?” video and then learn even more about her and how she lived out God’s plan for her in our Glory Story “Treasure in Heaven.”

Psst–looking for ways to celebrate her feast day? You can find our blog here: 5 EASY Ways to Celebrate St. Katharine Drexel

March 3rd is the feast day of Saint Katharine Drexel. This year it is also the 65^th anniversary of her death (that’s right: she died in 1955). Pope Saint John Paul II beatified her on Nov 20, 1988, and canonized her on Oct 1, 2000.

Here’s something quite interesting: both the miracles through her intercession that cleared her beatification and canonization were healings of deafness in children! Perhaps when you listen to the story of her life and growth in holiness, you can understand why God decided to show His glory in that way!

Here’s an interview with Bob Gutherman, one of the two children who were healed:

So, what’s the connection with us in “Holy Heroes country,” you may ask?

After the CIvil War, this part of North Carolina where we live had a lot of freed slaves and American Indians (mostly Cherokee) who were very poor. The Benedictine monks of Belmont Abbey wanted to help them, so they asked Katharine Drexel for money to help. (This was soon after she became a nun.) She offered to help build what is now the Basilica “Mary Help of Christians” if the monks would reserve pews in it for the non-white worshippers. And she also built several more Catholic churches throughout the region through her donations. She even visited here in 1904 to see the Basilica and the churches she had built.

[By they way…our bi-lingual family Stations of the Cross prayer book now has been reprinted with full-color hi-resolution photographs of the bas-relief Stations of the Cross sculptures which were completed in 1896 and now hang in the Belmont Abbey Basilica which Saint Katharine paid to build! Gorgeous and contemplation inspiring–wow! If you can’t visit in person, visit by praying with this prayer book.]

Back to my story: My dad’s family has a lot of Cherokee blood in it from over a hundred years ago. And guess what? We went to pray one All Souls Day in the old cemetery by the parish which the monks of Belmont Abbey had built for the freed slaves and Indians (before Saint Katharine asked them to agree to have all races worship together) and found 2 gravestones of people named “Davison.” They are now on our prayer list!

But even more exciting is this: When your parish church was built by a Saint…I am sure you can guess what that means: the parish will especially celebrate her feast day…even when it fall during Lent! Hooray for Saint Katharine Drexel!

You can get the Glory Story of her life “Treasure in Heaven” on CD HERE (the CD also contains the story of Saint Joseph “From an Angel in a Dream” so you’ll be ready to celebrate his feast on March 19^th!) or get it on MP3 to download & listen to right away HERE.

We found this fun interactive timeline of the events in her life and family with lots of pictures that are certain to generate great conversation about American history:

Here is the Holy Heroes Did You Know? video about St. Katharine Drexel:

We found the official website for St. Katharine Drexel’s shrine if you want to learn more. On the site, you can request a card with a 2nd Class relic (there has never been a 1st Class relic)–just use this link for details. We just ordered one for our office!