February 18, 2024 - "Venerable Leaders of African Descent"

During this Black History Month, I want to present three leaders of African descent who are on their way to sainthood.  My source for this material can be located on the website for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (ww.usccb.org). The three individuals we are looking at today have been declared Venerable.  This means that they have been declared by a proclamation, approved by the pope, to have lived a life that was “heroic in virtue”—specifically the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.
 
Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1776-1853).  Venerable Pierre Toussaint was born a slave in Haiti.  He became in time a philanthropist and the founder of many Catholic charities.  As a slave, Pierre Toussaint was brought from Haiti to New York and apprenticed under a popular hairstylist in the city.  He eventually became the most sought-after hairdresser of high society women.  Upon the death of his master, he gained his freedom and was very successful as one of the country’s first black entrepreneurs.  He became quite wealthy, but instead of spending lavishly on himself, he supported the Church and the poor.  He and his wife sheltered orphans, refugees, and other street people in their home.  He founded one of New York’s first orphanages and raised money for the city’s first cathedral.  Even during yellow fever epidemics, Toussaint would risk his life to help others by nursing the sick and praying for the dying.  Here is one of his sayings:  “I have never felt I am a slave to any man or woman but I am a servant of Almighty God who made us all.  When one of his children is in need, I am glad to be His slave.” He was declared Venerable by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1996.
 
Venerable Mary Elizabeth Lange (1784-1882).  Venerable Mary Elizabeth Lange was the foundress and first Superior General of the Oblate Sisters of Providence (1829-1832), the first congregation of African American women religious in the history of the Catholic Church.  On July 2, 1829, Elizabeth and three other women professed their vows and became Oblate Sisters of Providence.  This congregation would educate and evangelize African Americans.  They educated youth and provided a home for orphans.  Slaves who had been freed were educated and at times admitted into the congregation.  They nursed the terminally ill, sheltered the elderly, and even served as domestics at St. Mary’s Seminary.  She was born Elizabeth Clarisse Lange, a native of the Caribbean, believed to be Cuban born of Haitian descent.  By 1813 Providence directed her to Baltimore, Maryland where a large community of French speaking Catholics was established.  Mother Mary Lange practiced faith to an extraordinary degree.  In fact, it was her deep faith which enabled her to persevere against all odds.  In close union with Jesus, she lived through disappointment and opposition until God called her home in 1882 at the Saint Frances convent in Baltimore, MD. Pope Frances declared her Venerable on June 22, 2023.
 
Venerable Henriette Delille (1813-1862). Venerable Henriette Delille was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she lived all of her life.  She was determined to help those in need for the love of Jesus and for the sake of the Gospel.  Henriette was also a person who suffered as she made her way through life, bearing crosses.  She taught us that sanctity can be attained in following the path of Jesus.  It was in this manner that she dealt with her troubles and major obstacles to achieve her goals.  Some of the troubles Henriette met were the resistance of the ruling population to the idea of a black religious congregation; the lack of finances to do the work; the taunts and disbelief of people in her mission; the lack of support from Church and civil authority; and poor health.  However, Henriette practiced heroic virtue.  She had faith, lived in hope and love.  She was compassionate, forgiving, and merciful.  She believed in justice and was not afraid to do what was right in the eyes of God.  God blessed her efforts.  And in 1842, she founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family.  Henriette died on November 17, 1862.  Her obituary states, “…Miss Henriette Delille had for long years consecrated herself totally to God without reservation to the instruction of the ignorant and principally to the slave.” Pope Benedict XVI declared her Venerable on March 27, 2010.
 
Until next week,
Fr. John Dillon