Columns

Celebrate the feast of St. Katharine Drexel

Elizabeth A. Elliott | Catholic Herald Staff Writer

crop st katharine

Through the end of 2017, you can make a pilgrimage to the national shrine in Bensalem at the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament convent. The convent is for sale and St. Katharine Drexel’s tomb eventually will be moved to the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.

St. Katharine was born in Philadelphia in 1858 and died in 1955. She founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and several schools for the poor around the country.

The shrine offers the opportunity to learn about St. Katharine and her family. There are artifacts of the saint, including her wheelchair and woven rugs given to her by the Navajo in Arizona, for whom she supported a mission begun by the Cincinnati Franciscan Friars. Visitors can leave their petitions in the Apache Burden Basket next to St. Katharine’s crypt. The intentions are prayed for daily by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.

National Shrine of St. Katharine Drexel

1663 Bristol Pike, Bensalem, Pa.

katharinedrexel.org

Related Articles