KATHARINE DREXEL, FRIEND OF THE NEGLECTED

Another of the Vision biographies, Katharine Drexel's life is a riches-to-rags story -- materially speaking. The carefully reared middle daughter of Francis Drexel of Philadelphia, she lost her mother in infancy, but enjoyed a warm family relationship to her stepmother and her younger sister, Louise, and her half-sister Elizabeth, who later died in childbirth. Katharine traveled in the United States and Europe, and was struck by the economic and spiritual neglect of the Indians and Negroes here. For many years she harboured a desire to serve their needs, deterred only by the loneliness of her father following his second wife's death. After his death she took her vows and founded a new religious congregation, The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. She forsook a life of singular affluence to foster the temporal and spiritual betterment of the two neglected groups. Her charities included educational and vocational institutions as well as a lifetime of personal service. The narration is not of marked superiority but the circumstance- of Katharine Drexel's life are of such intrinsic interest to Catholic readers, particular in Pennsylvania, that this qualifies as a cut above above average.