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  • Saint Katharine Drexel

    Saint Katharine Drexel
    Feast Day March 3rd
    Patron Saint of racial Justice and Philanthropists.

    Let us pray for our intentions and for a greater love and respect for all God's people.



    Saint Katharine Drexel's Story
    If your father is an international banker and you ride in a private railroad car, you are not likely to be drawn into a life of voluntary poverty. But if your mother opens your home to the poor three days each week and your father spends half an hour each evening in prayer, it is not impossible that you will devote your life to the poor and give away millions of dollars. Katharine Drexel did that.

    Born in Philadelphia in 1858, she had an excellent education and traveled widely. As a rich girl, Katharine also had a grand debut into society. But when she nursed her stepmother through a three-year terminal illness, she saw that all the Drexel money could not buy safety from pain or death, and her life took a profound turn.

    Katharine had always been interested in the plight of the Indians, having been appalled by what she read in Helen Hunt Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor. While on a European tour, she met Pope Leo XIII and asked him to send more missionaries to Wyoming for her friend Bishop James O’Connor. The pope replied, “Why don’t you become a missionary?” His answer shocked her into considering new possibilities.

    Back home, Katharine visited the Dakotas, met the Sioux leader Red Cloud and began her systematic aid to Indian missions.

    Katharine Drexel could easily have married. But after much discussion with Bishop O’Connor, she wrote in 1889, “The feast of Saint Joseph brought me the grace to give the remainder of my life to the Indians and the Colored.” Newspaper headlines screamed “Gives Up Seven Million!”


    After three and a half years of training, Mother Drexel and her first band of nuns—Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored—opened a boarding school in Santa Fe. A string of foundations followed. By 1942, she had a system of black Catholic schools in 13 states, plus 40 mission centers and 23 rural schools. Segregationists harassed her work, even burning a school in Pennsylvania. In all, she established 50 missions for Indians in 16 states.

    Two saints met when Mother Drexel was advised by Mother Cabrini about the “politics” of getting her order’s Rule approved in Rome. Her crowning achievement was the founding of Xavier University in New Orleans, the first Catholic university in the United States for African Americans.

    At 77, Mother Drexel suffered a heart attack and was forced to retire. Apparently her life was over. But now came almost 20 years of quiet, intense prayer from a small room overlooking the sanctuary. Small notebooks and slips of paper record her various prayers, ceaseless aspirations, and meditations. She died at 96 and was canonized in 2000.

                                        
    ~ Information from franciscanmedia.org
    Novena Prayer
     
    Ever Loving God,
    You called St. Katharine Drexel to teach the message of the Gospel and to bring the life of the Eucharist to Black and Native American peoples. By her prayers and example, enable us to work for justice among the poor and oppressed. Draw us all into the Eucharistic community of your Church that we may be one in you. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever (add your intentions).
    Amen


    One Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be
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  • Please pray for these intentions

    .
    • Please pray for me in my misery of my job against mobbing and demage , for give back my reputation, Eva
    • Please pray for our friend Joe who is sick and for his family.
    • Please pray for daughter-in-law with severe mental illness to take her medication to make her more stable
    • For my sister-in-law Diana, who is battling pancreatic cancer
    • Please continue to pray for our dear friend Joe who is very ill. And for his family.
    • Please pray for the healing of Dan and Art who have cancer.
    • Healing of stomach ailments
    • Please pray for Paige to get better. Pray for her doctors to gain insight and help heal her.
    • To have better health Jean
    • Please pray for our friend Joe who is sick and for his family.
    • For my brother who is sick with cancer - may his treatment go well
    • Please pray for our dear friend Joe and his family.
    • Bring my family back to our Lord
    • Let me be free from debt and sickness(diabetes and blindness)
    • Please pray for our dear friend Joey who is very sick. Please pray for his family to have strength.
    • For the healing & reconciliation for my son and his 2 daughters.
    • PLEASE PRAY FOR ME THAT I WILL NOT GET FIRED FROM MY JOB. ALSO PLEASE PRAY THAT I WILL NOT GET A DECREASE IN MY SALARY AND THAT I WILL NOT GET A DECREASE IN MY PAY GRADE. THANK YOU.
    • Please pray for our friend Joey. May God help to heal him and give his family strength.
    • For my nephew, Jason, 41 years old, father of a 3 month old , who was just diagnosed with lung cancer as a result of exposure to asbestos. That God may heal him so that he can spend many more years with his loving family.
    • Sister and nephews, all those who struggle with mental illness, all those who practice the occult and who have family that are in the occult
    • For a family member suffering severe and complicated mental illness and for the family members trying to help her.
    • For my brother in - law who is very sick
    • For Sam to return home to his wife and put an end to the divorce.
    • For peace in our family, that our daughter will come back to us.
    • For my boyfriends mother who has suffered a stroke and is now hospitalized- for healing of both body and soul. May she find healing, peace, and strengthened faith in Gods love.
    • Please pray for my brain-tumor survivor autistic 26 year old son. He needs divine intervention. Thank you from his mother
    • A Special request for my son and his future. That he has the strength and will to keep going. That he pass his test.
    • Healing and conversion of a family member and neighbor. Also for my husbands job. Thank you DJ
    • Holy wife for Simeon David W.
    • Please pray for my son to overcome his difficulties.
    • For Alyssa, Doug, our Children, our Church and our Country
    • For my daughter Maria Hopefully the treatments will help her
    • Please pray for my local family business
    • FOR HEALING IN MY MARRIAGE
    • Praying for the Peace of Christ to reign in this land as well as in each of our hearts
    • Please pray that my my life becomes better, less stress more peace
    • Richard
    • For my father going through a very difficult time
    • Family to reunite with each other. Bring Greg home. Good health for myself and my husband and our family. The answer to a special intention my husband is praying for. Good health for my sister. Take care of Linda, Maryann, Diane and Rosemary. For my husband and I to renew our vows on our 50th anniversary in Sept. Amen
    • For my nephew, that he find his way to his true healthy self
    • For my niece
    • For health and peace for my grand niece and brother-in-law, and for our country and all our children.
    • For my husband and daughter’s father who passed 2 years ago from pancreatic cancer.  For those fighting this dreadful disease and all those with cancer…. May they find peace.
    • For my nephew Claudio and my friend Tommy ,both have cancer
    • The Heath of my sister Maryann
    • Protect the people in Ukraine and bring peace.
    • For my brother who is fighting deadly infectious disease
    • Please pray for me Yesterday I fell and broke my leg I’m having surgery today
    • For my niece who has cancer
    • Please Pray for my daughter Maria She is battling cancer for the 3rd time
    • Granddaughter help her through her anxiety.
    • For  my brother who has leukemia and is in need of healing. Needs to become father.
    • Pray for my son to overcome his mental issues and turn to Jesus for help and guidance in all things.
    • For my daughter to enjoy her life and come back to the church
    • For my children to embrace their faith
    • The souls of the faithful departed. (AB) For peace and clarity with future opportunities.
    • By the intercession of St Padre Pio please king Jesus Christ heal my parents and grant them your salvation; deliver me from darkness and grant me wisdom and wealth. Amen
    • For a successful job interview to replace lost income.
    • For a successful job interview to replace lost incomeFor my children’s hearts to be converted so they turn to their faith for comfort, to the church and it’s catechism for guidance, and to the Holy Spirit for Wisdom.
    • Peace in the family
    • Please God. Give My Mom Strength and Cure her from Cancer. Amen
    • Please cure my Mom from Cancer We need her. Also, please give her and my family strength. Amen. 
    • Family to reunite with each other. Also, good health for myself and my husband. Prayers for a recovery from surgery for 3 friends and a job to work out for my nephew and for my sister to not be alone. I ask that in Jesus’ name Amen
    • For our family to return to being together again and talk and see each other again. For good health.
    • Please pray for my youngest sister, Joyce, who has Stage 4 Metastatic Lung Cancer.
    • Please God, Padre Pio and St Raphael please heal My Mom Kathleen from cancer. Please send her strength and please cure her from This. Amen
    • I pray for Father John and all Priests to feed God’s sheep and I pray that I may always keep my family safe and secure and close to Jesus.
    • Please pray for one of our Parish families that is experiencing difficulties at this time
    • For my daughter, Colleen (confirmed Kateri), that she soon finds a safe and affordable place to move in NYC.
    • Marielle, Mary, Pat, William, Will, Brianna
    • Please pray that my husband’s job is moved back to New Jersey so he can remain working and living near his family. Thank you!
    • Please pray for my great niece. Mental, physical and spiritual health, for her peace and safety.
    • Please pray for the health of my husband Wayne to regain his strength to walk and fully recover from illness that has taken away the quality of his life.
    • For my mother, and other deceased family that they are at peace.
    • For all those who feel alone, lost and without hope that they receive grace and peace
    • For my son and daughter, as they await approval for a transplant operation
    • Asking for my friends at St. Leo the Great to please pray for my mother. She needs your prayers as she is in the hospital fighting for her life. Thank you for all your prayers! In Jesus' name, AMEN! 
    • Please pray for my daughter and son who struggle with anxiety and depression .
    • Virginia, mother of Cynthia, parishioner
    • Willingness to manage my mental health, and finding the strength to fight through the deep depression that is making my life feel so dark and hopeless.
    • Mom and Dad. Also Good buddy Harold
    • Please pray for good health for those who are sick & suffering.
    • For the health and well-being of my family
    • To be a better mother
    • I pray for all those who are unemployed or underemployed because of the pandemic
    • I pray for my dear friend the most loving and caring nurse I know.
    • Thomas
    • For my niece who contracted COVID away at college and is sick, scared and alone.
    • Please pray for my son Patrick who struggles with mental illness. Thank you
    • For the health of my family members
    • Please pray for active duty military in Iraq and Kuwait. In light of the recent activity, please pray for the safety of a member of our parish and the troops serving our country. Thank you.
    • Please Pray that my family will come back to the church
    • Please pray for my best friend - that she finds a treatment for her illness that she has been battling so valiantly.
    • For Pete who has Covid and pneumonia. And for his wife Regina, probably from stress, who ended up in the ER this week
    • For a new treatment to work for Ernest. Give him & his family the physical & mental strength to endure this journey.
    • Our Lady of Lourdes, please give Ernest the strength to endure the new treatments for Multiple Myloma which he has had for 5 years. We pray these new treatments will strengthen him
    • Please pray for my son DR who struggles with ADHD and anxiety.