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Summary
Summary
A Gilded-Age Woman Who Devoted Her Life and Fortune to the American Dispossessed, Established Her Own Religious Order, and Was Ultimately Canonized
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. As a Philadelphia socialite, "Kitty," as she was often called, adored formal balls and teas, rowing regattas, and sailing races. She was beautiful, intelligent, and high-spirited. But when her stepmother died in 1883, and her father two years later, a sense of desolation nearly overwhelmed her. She was twenty-seven and in possession of a staggering inheritance. Approached for aid by the Catholic Indian Missions, she surprised her family by giving generously of money and time. It was during this period of acute self-examination that she journeyed to Rome for a private audience with Pope Leo XIII. With characteristic energy and fervor, she detailed the plight of the Native Americans, and begged for additional missionaries to serve them. His reply astonished her. "Why not, my child, yourself become a missionary?"
In Saint Katharine: The Life of Katharine Drexel , Cordelia Frances Biddle recounts the extraordinary story of a Gilded Age luminary who became a selfless worker for the welfare and rights of America's poorest persons. After years of supporting efforts on behalf of African Americans and American Indians, Katharine finally decided to follow her inner voice and profess vows. The act made headlines. Like her father and grandfather, she was a shrewd businessperson; she retained her financial autonomy and established her own order, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Until her death in 1955, she devoted herself and her inheritance to building much-needed schools in the South and Southwest, despite threats from the Ku Klux Klan and others. Pragmatic, sometimes willful, ardent, and a charismatic leader, Katharine Drexel was an indefatigable champion of justice and parity. When illness incapacitated her in later years, divine radiance was said to emanate from her, a radiance that led to her canonization on October 1, 2000.
Author Notes
CORDELIA FRANCES BIDDLE teaches creative writing at Drexel University's Pennoni Honors College and received the college's Outstanding Teaching Award in 2012. A member of the Authors Guild, she is the author of Beneath the Wind , Without Fear , Deception's Daughter , and The Conjurer . She has contributed to Town and Country , Hemispheres , and W , and won the 1997 SATW Lowell Thomas travel-writing award for "Three Perfect Days in Philadelphia." She is a descendant of Francis Martin Drexel, grandfather of Saint Katharine Drexel.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Novelist and teacher Biddle (Without Fear) explores the remarkable life of St. Katharine Drexel. Born on the cusp of the Civil War to one of Philadelphia's most prominent families, Drexel enjoyed a privileged youth. In the aftermath of the loss of her father, however, she begins searching for a greater purpose. She devotes herself, and her staggering inheritance, to empowering Native Americans and African-Americans through education. After years of spiritual struggle, she becomes a nun and eventually establishes her own order, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. An energetic, unwavering champion of social justice, Drexel builds schools throughout the Deep South and West, often encountering deeply rooted prejudice and overcoming tremendous obstacles. Biddle is a scrupulous researcher but maintains a refreshingly lucid, readable style. Her scholarship is enriched by her connection to the Drexel family as a descendent of Katharine's grandfather. While she is particularly adept at drawing the reader into 19th century Philadelphia and highlighting the sociohistorical context of Drexel's work, she might have paid closer attention to the spirituality and theological development of an American saint. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
This work is especially timely in view of the stalemate between America's Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the Vatican, which maintains that the Sisters are too caught up in social justice issues. It tells the story of wealthy Philadelphia socialite Katherine Drexel (1858-1955), who, with the blessing of Pope Leo XIII, used her inheritance to found the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in 1891 to educate Native Americans and African Americans at a time of intense prejudice toward the country's poorest and often forgotten inhabitants. Her work as an outspoken proponent for social justice led to her canonization in 2000. As the great-granddaughter of her subject's uncle (founder of what is now Drexel University), Biddle (novelist, "Martha Beale" series; creative writing, Drexel Univ.) provides insights from family lore not available to previous biographers. The details of Drexel's life are revealed against a background of the socioeconomic and political history of her times, including the beginnings of the women's movement when the Civil War forced them into new roles. Written with a novelist's eye for detail, the book makes for entertaining reading. VERDICT Recommended for those interested in church history, American sociopolitical history, and women's issues. Denise J. Stankovics, Vernon, CT (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.