W
hen you have saint in your DNA, it is something to celebrate.
PARISH LIFE with those less fortunate. In 1891, she founded a religious order called the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and “Colored” People. She used her wealth and her order to spread God’s word among America’s less fortunate. On March 9, 1915 Sister Katherine—through the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament—donated $1,000 “to aid in the erection of a church to be used for education of Mexican,
Parishioners at Holy Cross Parish in Corpus Christi kicked off a yearlong celebration to commemorate their upcoming centennial and St. Katherine Drexel will play an important role as she did 100 years ago when the parish got its start. In 1914, the new Diocese of Corpus Christi’s first bishop began to look for ways to serve the city’s black population. Following the lead of U.S. bishops who—after Emancipation—had decreed in 1869 that the church provide missions and schools for all black Americans in their dioceses, Bishop Paul Nussbaum, CP saw education as a critical need in the black community. Bishop Nussbaum believed that a school to serve the area’s children would be a good way to get the community to come to the church. He exchanged several letters in 1914 with an individual from South Dakota who expressed interest in the project, but nothing came of this exchange. Bishop Nussbaum appealed to the Saint Marsha Hardeman leads the choir at Holy Cross Church, including, from left, Joseph Society of the Sacred Heart, widely Gloria Hamilton and Elizabeth Vesely. known as the Josephites, to come to Corpus Alfredo E. Cardenas, South Texas Catholic Christi. In 1871, the Josephites had formed a mission society devoted to serving the “freedmen.” Indians or colored people” in Corpus Christi. In early DecemA Josephite, Father S. J. Kelly, SSJ, came to Corpus Christ ber 1916—while on tour of the south—she visited Corpus and began making contact in the black community. UnforChristi. The following January, she donated $5,000 to build a tunately, his order reassigned him to New Orleans where a “two-story building with church on first floor and second floor much larger parish needed his services. for school.” Finally, on April 12, 1917 she donated $2,500 to Father Mark Moeslein, CP, a Passionist priest like the build a residence for sisters. bishop, volunteered to help his brother Passionist with this Sister Katherine’s generosity made Bishop Nussbaum’s missionary work. His efforts soon bore fruit. On Aug. 12, dream a reality. On Sept. 20, 1917 Bishop Nussbaum blessed a 1915, Maria Josephina Little and her parents Willis John and new two-story structure at the intersection of Black and Lobo Maria Hattie Little were baptized at St. Patrick’s Cathedral that was to serve as Holy Cross Church and School. The chapel and entered into the Sacramental records of Holy Cross. was on the first floor and school on second floor. The campus The community had begun to respond, but Holy Cross still also included a rectory and a convent for the Ursuline Sisters did not have a church to call home and Mass was celebrated from Laredo who were to serve as teachers. at people’s homes. Enter Sister Katherine Drexel, SBS. Several religious orders, in addition to the Sisters of the Sister Katherine was heiress to a banking fortune and had Blessed Sacrament, contributed to the project. These included been taught by her parents from a very young age to share the Good Shepherd Sisters, Franciscan Sisters, Passionist
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