About this item
"Powerful and profoundly moving, Saint Katharine is a book of rich and lively scholarship and of deeply felt devotion. You will not be able to put it down." - Donald Spoto, author of Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi When Katharine Drexel was born in 1858, her grandfather, financier Francis Martin Drexel, had a fortune so vast he was able to provide a loan of sixty million dollars to the Union's cause during the Civil War. Her uncle and mentor, Anthony, established Drexel University to provide instruction to the working class regardless of race, religion, or gender. Her stepmother was Emma Bouvier whose brother, John, became the great-grandfather of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Katharine Drexel's family were American royalty.
About the Author
Cordelia Frances Biddle on her Famous Lineage, the Origins of The Martha Beale Historical Series, and her newest book Saint Katharine: The Life of Katharine Drexel. For additional insights into Philadelphia's fascinating past, please visit www.CordeliaFrancesBiddle.com. You may also find her on Facebook.
My passion for the Victorian era that serves as backdrop for the Martha Beale series began with research into my Biddle and Drexel ancestors. Financiers Nicholas Biddle and Francis Martin Drexel were powerful men who shaped the city - and nation's - growth and politics.
Those novels led me to the compelling story of Saint Katharine Drexel (1858-1955) , and her extraordinary decision to use her vast wealth in service to the poorest of the nation by starting her own religious order, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, and creating schools in the West, Southwest and South. Xavier University in New Orleans, was her crowning achievement. She was a determined and politically astute woman in an era when those attributes were considered rare. At the time of her death, she was already considered holy.
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