U.S. Saints

As Mark and I have mentioned before, Philadelphia is a very Catholic city. There is a Catholic church or school about every mile, it seems. We have had the opportunity to visit the shrines of 3 American saints, two here in Philadelphia and one in New York City. Unlike the shrines in Rome dedicated to good people who lived hundreds or even thousands of years ago, the American saints share a more recent time and place with those of us in this country.

Elizabeth Seton was the first native-born U.S. saint. She was married and had five children. Her husband lost most of their money and became ill, and the family went to Italy in hopes of a better climate. The family had to be quarantined, and during this period Elizabeth and her family were helped by a Catholic Italian family. She was so impressed with their faith that she converted to Catholicism. Her husband died, and later she had several children die as well. There were no Catholic schools in the country at this time, so she moved to Maryland and founded a free Catholic school for girls. Her order of sisters, the Sisters of Charity, were the first congregation dedicated to teaching in the U.S. She died in 1821, and was canonized in 1975. We visited her Manhattan home that is now a small church and shrine.

John Neumann was a Redemptorist priest born in Bohemia. He came to the U.S. as a missionary to the many German, Irish and Italian immigrants who had no one to minister to them. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He served in Philadelphia as a priest, and then became the bishop in 1852. He began the first Catholic school system in the country, mainly because most of the schools at that time would not allow the Catholic immigrants to attend. He also founded the Franciscan Sisters of Philadelphia. He was canonized in 1977. His tomb and shrine is across from the thrift store operated by the Inn.

The second Philadelphian to be canonzied was Katharine Drexel. She was one of 3 daughters of a wealthy family. She was taught at an early age to share the wealth she had. When her father died, she felt she had a vocation to the religious life as a cloistered nun. During an audience with the Pope, he suggested she start an order that would serve Native Americans. She founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, who opened boarding schools in the Southwest on reservations, as well as day schools in rural and urban centers for African-Americans. Many of her order live at the motherhouse in Philadelphia, such as Sister Margaret, retired after years in the mission field. Her tomb and shrine are very interesting. For example, one display has the stubs of pencils that she would not throw away because she wanted all of the income they had to be used for mission work. There are also Native American and African American crafts used to decorate the chapel. She was canonized in 2000.

Despite prejudice, personal illness and obstacles such as poor roads and living conditions, these three Americans teach us that we need to always be prepared to hear the call to help others, regardless of our station in life or vocation.