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Saint Katharine: The Life of Katharine Drexel
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 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.
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 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.
- GenresBiography
296 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2014
12 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
Cordelia Frances Biddle
21 books28 followersCordelia Frances Biddle is a feminist and historian. Fiction: Listen to Me: The Women of the Bible Speak Out; They Believed They Were Safe; the Martha Beale series set in 1840's Philadelphia, and Beneath the Wind. Nonfiction: Biddle, Jackson and a Nation in Turmoil, and Saint Katharine: the Life of Katharine Drexel.
The River Was Waiting will be published January 2026
With her husband, Steve Zettler, she wrote the Nero Blanc crossword puzzle series.
She would love hearing from you, and would be happy to meet with your book club or reading group.
Please contact her through her website: www.CordeliaFrancesBiddle.net
The River Was Waiting will be published January 2026
With her husband, Steve Zettler, she wrote the Nero Blanc crossword puzzle series.
She would love hearing from you, and would be happy to meet with your book club or reading group.
Please contact her through her website: www.CordeliaFrancesBiddle.net
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 30, 2020
This is the true life story of Katharine Drexel, the wealthy woman who became a beloved Saint. She was born in 1858, into wealth and privilege, the second daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the world. Her mother died when she was very young, and her father married again. Another child, Louise, was born of that marriage, and the three daughters were very close. When Katherine was a young woman, she traveled through the southwest of the United States, and was appalled at the treatment of native Americans. She loved beautiful clothes and exotic jewelry, but decided to turn her back on all that and established an order of nuns. She herself became a nun to do good in the world, and devoted her order to establishing elementary and high schools for underprivileged young people, especially native Americans and African Americans. She used her trust fund to build schools and educated her convent to be teachers. As time went on, she established a university for African Americans. She met with great opposition in the South, where much of the population was very biased against black people, and many fires and other threats were leveled against her and her schools, but she calmly proceeded. She changed countless lives and had a deep love for all her students. She passed away in 1955, well into her nineties, and was made a Saint in 2000.
May 18, 2019
A fascinating look at a period of time and an amazing woman who was tireless in her efforts to help others. I just converted to Catholicism and chose Saint Katharine Drexel as my confirmation name - I had read some about her, but this book gave more information about her history. Living in the Philadelphia area made it interesting - I didn’t grow up here so it brought the area to life to learn about a piece of its history.
February 6, 2022
Not only is this a wonderful biology of the great St. Katherine Drexel, Biddle does a great job of giving background and context of the racism in the US and how it related to Katharine's work. Despite constant threats and condemnation by the rich white, Katharine devoted her entire life to providing education to Native and African Americans. Such an inspiring read!
December 8, 2017
While much of the history at the start of the book is presented in a very dry manner, the book rises above that by the subject's importance in today's world. St Katharine worked against the racism of her day, racism that is very similar to patterns presenting themselves today.
November 4, 2019
I wish more actual entries from St Katharine's diary or letters had been included but it wasn't a spiritual memoir. I did really enjoy this insight into an important historical figure and spiritual example.
August 30, 2020
My impression
As a volunteer at St. Michael's when I was younger I found it a fascinating read. I had forgotten that Saint Katherine was related to Jackie Kennedy.
As a volunteer at St. Michael's when I was younger I found it a fascinating read. I had forgotten that Saint Katherine was related to Jackie Kennedy.
December 8, 2021
I knew much about Saint Katharine's work but little about her family life or personal struggles. This book gave me that insight.
July 8, 2015
This is a great history which really resonates as I finish reading just weeks after the Bible Study Massacre and debates over the Confederate flag. Katharine Drexel was born into extreme wealth in Philadelphia during the Victorian Gilded Age of the rise of the super-wealthy in America. She lived a pampered life but struggled to balance her growing faith life with her choice of being a traditional, wealthy socialite philanthropist. The family was already involved in philanthropic works--founding an institution for the poor that became Drexel University. In one of the routes open to women at the time to exercise and balance their managerial and spiritual skills, she became a nun and started a separate order just for the purpose of aiding and educating the most rejected and impoverished in the country--recently freed Black slaves and defeated Native Americans. And she really stepped into it. The racism was harrowing--she feared for the safety of students and nuns and she had to use subterfuge to purchase and develop properties for the schools. Biddle, a descendant herself of the Drexel-Biddle families, chooses anecdotes and summarizes and edits well to portray the attitudes of the day. The expectations placed on wealthy teenage girls and their "decorum", the rise of feminism in response to Jack the Ripper, descriptions of amazing mansions and rat-infested cellars, excerpts of letters and reports--all the added details contribute to the portrayal of a strong-willed and visionary person who overcame conditions that would have frightened and defeated most people.
January 27, 2015
Fails to deliver
I enjoyed this book as a period piece. It reminded me very much of Downton Abbey as it focused a significant portion of the book to Philadelphia high society during the Guilded Age. The author has very little to offer on Katherine Drexel however. She is a family member she is readily admitted a distant relative and her lack of detail throughout the book on anything of real substance regarding the Saint leaves the reader feeling cheated. I thought I was reading a book about Katherine Drexel written by an insider, a family member that would reveal a side of Katherine that was known and shared through generations of Drexels. What I got was an overwritten history of the times that corresponded with Katherine's life and conjecture as to how she must have felt and what she must have said. In several instances the author repeated the same quotes. I kept reading hoping the book would deliver but in the end was largely a disappointment.
I enjoyed this book as a period piece. It reminded me very much of Downton Abbey as it focused a significant portion of the book to Philadelphia high society during the Guilded Age. The author has very little to offer on Katherine Drexel however. She is a family member she is readily admitted a distant relative and her lack of detail throughout the book on anything of real substance regarding the Saint leaves the reader feeling cheated. I thought I was reading a book about Katherine Drexel written by an insider, a family member that would reveal a side of Katherine that was known and shared through generations of Drexels. What I got was an overwritten history of the times that corresponded with Katherine's life and conjecture as to how she must have felt and what she must have said. In several instances the author repeated the same quotes. I kept reading hoping the book would deliver but in the end was largely a disappointment.
May 29, 2015
What a life!
We all need encouragement to persevere in the spiritual life and Saint Katharine certainly provides that for us. What constancy in the face of opposing forces!
We all need encouragement to persevere in the spiritual life and Saint Katharine certainly provides that for us. What constancy in the face of opposing forces!
April 30, 2017
Following the life of Katharine Drexel renews one's awareness of the short time of American history. Massacres of Native Americans and slavery of black people is only the blink of an eye into the past. St. Katharine was inspired by the Civil War; a sister under her taught John T. Scott, who received a MacArthur genius grant in 1992 and died in 2007 while evacuated from Hurricane Katrina. Everything touches in the tiny history of America. And in this aspect, the book is well done and worth reading.
However, other reviewers are correct that the book contains very little of St. Katharine herself. She left copious journals which I am sure would be very tedious to read and connect with the day-to-day history of events in the order and the country. The author clearly did not go to such an effort. *WHY* was St. Katharine so moved to the plight of those abused by racism to dedicate her entire life, body and soul to them? This is a dramatic act. *She was declared a saint!* We learn nothing of it from this book.
However, other reviewers are correct that the book contains very little of St. Katharine herself. She left copious journals which I am sure would be very tedious to read and connect with the day-to-day history of events in the order and the country. The author clearly did not go to such an effort. *WHY* was St. Katharine so moved to the plight of those abused by racism to dedicate her entire life, body and soul to them? This is a dramatic act. *She was declared a saint!* We learn nothing of it from this book.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews