This week in Christian history: 21 Copts martyred, Philander Chase becomes Episcopal bishop

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, February 11, 2024

Katharine Drexel founds holy order – Feb. 12, 1891

This week marks the anniversary of when Katharine Drexel founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, an order centered on providing support to black and Native American communities.

Found on the same day that Drexel took her vows to become a nun, under her leadership, the Sisters went on to establish dozens of schools and missions in the western United States.

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“Her crowning educational focus was the establishment in 1925 of Xavier University of Louisiana, the only predominantly Afro-American Catholic institution of higher learning in the United States,” noted an entry on The Vatican’s website.

“Katharine combined prayerful and total dependence on Divine Providence with determined activism. Her joyous incisiveness, attuned to the Holy Spirit, penetrated obstacles and facilitated her advances for social justice.”

Drexel was canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church in 2000.