Born in Philadelphia to a wealthy family. Her mother died five weeks after she was born, and her father remarried a few years later. She and her two sisters were homeschooled. They lived catholic life and were well known for their philanthropic work, regularly distributing food and clothing as well as rent assistance. The family used to travel throughout the US and Europe, where Kathrine became aware of the difficulties of the Native Americans and African-Americans in the country. After the death of her stepmother and her father very soon after, she was seeking for missionaries in Europe, to mission the Indian-Americans, and was offered by Pope Leo XIII to become one herself. At the age of 29, Drexel decided to become a nun, devoting herself as well as her inheritance to serve God and help the Indian-Americans and African-Americans in the US. She joined the Sisters of Mercy Convent in Pittsburgh, and at the age of 33, professed her vows, took the name ‘Mother Katharine’, and established a religious congregation called the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored. By the time she died, Mother Katharine had established 145 missions, 62 schools for African-Americans and Native-Americans, and assisted in establishing the Xavier University of Louisiana – the only historically black Catholic college in the US. In 1988, 33 years after she passed away, Pope John Paul II beatified Katharine Drexel, and on October 1, 2000, she was canonized, one of the few US-born saints and the second natural-born US citizen Saint. Read more...