My mother, Augusta, and her sister, Onita, attended the canonization of Mother Katherine Drexel in Rome in 2000. It was a banner year for my mother: she had her first plane ride, went to a foreign country for the first time, and had her first birthday party at the age of 80. The trip to Rome was an early birthday gift from Onita.
Augusta was chosen to read her composition to Mother Katherine in 1934 at St. Monica Catholic Elementary School. The assigned subject was "Building for Eternity." Augusta wrote about doing chores for an elderly neighbor. She was in the eighth grade. Who knew that Mother Katherine would become a saint?
Katherine Drexel was a Philadelphia heiress who founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and started schools such as St. Monica to educate poor African Americans and American Indians. She was the daughter of Francis Drexel, whose firm became the investment giant Drexel Burnham Lambert. Mother Drexel used her trust fund to fight poverty and racism through education. She died in 1955.
"When you look back on it, that is great to know somebody who has become a saint," Mom said. "I feel blessed."
15 February 2013
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