Timeline of Saint Katharine Drexel’s Life and Service
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Solemn Installation of the Tomb of Saint Katharine Drexel
Solemn Installation of the Tomb of Saint Katharine Drexel in the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Philadelphia.
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Translation of the Sacred Remains of Saint Katharine Drexel
Translation of the Sacred Remains of Saint Katharine Drexel from the motherhouse of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Philadelphia.
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Canonization
Again, Saint Katharine’s life and writings are examined. The healing of little Amy Wall’s deafness is examined by doctors and accepted by the Vatican as a miracle due to prayer to Blessed Katharine. On the steps of Saint Peters Basilica, Pope John Paul II proclaims the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament foundress: “Saint Katharine Drexel.”
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Beatification
Katharine’s writings and life are studied, witnesses questioned. The healing of 14-year-old Robert Gutherman’s severe inner ear damage is accepted as a miracle due to prayer to Mother Katharine. In Tome, Pope John Paul II beatifies Blessed Katharine Drexel.
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Introduction of Mother Katharine’s cause for sainthood
John Cardinal Krol, Archbishop of Philadelphia, officially introduces Mother Katharine’s cause for sainthood.
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Mother Katharine’s Resignation
Failing health leads to Mother Katharine’s resignation as superior. She leads a life of contemplation for the next 20 years.
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Founding of Xavier University of Louisiana
The only historically black Catholic college in the United States.
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Opening of Xavier Preparatory School
Mother Katharine purchases buildings in New Orleans, Louisiana, and opens Xavier Preparatory School.
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Taking on the Inner City
Mother Katharine and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament bring education to inner-city children of the Northeast and Midwest, to areas where crime and poverty hold people captive, place such as Chicago, New York, Columbus, Atlanta, St. Louis, Boston and Cincinnati. As early as 1908, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament were teaching in Philadelphia.
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Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament sent to Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament sent to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to teach religious education to African American and American Indian students.
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Immaculate Mother Academy
A boarding school for African American girls, opens in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Founding of St. Michael Indian School
In St. Michaels, Arizona, to serve the Navajo Native Americans.
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St. Francis de Sales School
A boarding school for African American girls, opens in Powhatan, Virginia.
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Journey to Santa Fe
Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament go to Santa Fe to staff and run St. Catherine’s Indian School.
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Moving into new motherhouse
Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament move into new motherhouse and open Holy Providence School in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.
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Katharine Founds the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
While pronouncing her vows, Katharine establishes the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Ten novices and three postulants follow Mother Katharine to Torresdale, temporarily using the Drexel summer home until the Motherhouse in Cornwell Heights is ready for occupancy.
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Elizabeth and Walter George Smith Marry
While on a honeymoon trip in Europe, Elizabeth becomes pregnant and seriously ill. She and Walter return to Torresdale where Elizabeth and her child die, November 26, 1890.
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Katharine enters religious life
Katharine enters religious life as a postulant with the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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Katharine answers God’s call to the religious life
Under the direction of her spiritual advisor, she seeks to found a religious order dedicated to serving African Americans and American Indians.
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Audience with Pope Leo XIII in Rome
During audience with Pope Leo XIII in Rome, the Holy Father asks Katharine to consider becoming a missionary.
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Opening of St. Catherine’s Indian School
Katharine finances the opening of St. Catherine’s Indian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to serve the local Pueblo-American Indians.
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Katharine’s father dies
February 15, 1885 – Katharine’s father dies, bequeathing an estate valued at $15 million to his children and various charities.
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Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother dies shortly after giving birth
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Francis Anthony Drexel Marries Hannah Langstroth
The Drexels belong to a wealthy Philadelphia banking family. Francis, a deeply spiritual man, spends time in prayer. Hannah is not Catholic, but belongs to the Dunkard sect. Their first child, Elizabeth, is born on August 27, 1855.