Every Holy Moment is a historic event. 

Every time we choose to love God, and collaborate with Him to love our neighbor, we change the course of human history, because our Holy Moments reverberate powerfully in the lives of people in other places and other times.

Saint Katharine Drexel learned this lesson from the Pope himself. When she asked Pope Leo XIII to send more missionaries to Wyoming to set up schools for Native Americans, the Pope responded, “Why don't you become a missionary?” It was a wake up call. The Pope was telling Katharine, “Do your part.” Not just with her money, but with all she had: her very self. If she did, she would create change beyond her wildest imaginings. And that is what happened.

Katharine became a nun and founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. She established more than 60 schools and missions, primarily for African Americans and Native Americans living in a society riddled with racism and segregation. She even founded Xavier University in New Orleans, the first Catholic university in the United States for African Americans. It is also the first Catholic university founded by a saint, and today is home to about 3,500 students each year.

Saint Katharine Drexel changed education in America for countless minorities, and her works will continue to bear fruit for the rest of human history.

Everything God created in the universe and beyond is connected. And in ways we will perhaps never understand, we are all connected. Our unholy moments have unholy ripple effects on the world. And our Holy Moments reverberate around the world in ways we cannot imagine.

Saint Katharine Drexel set off a butterfly effect of Holy Moments. So can you.

Patron Saint of: Philanthropy and Racial Justice

Feast Day: March 3

Feast Day Shared By: Saint Cunegunda

Canonized: October 1, 2000

Canonized By: Pope John Paul II