Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Saint Sister Sista?

Henriette DeLille, who in 1837 founded an order of black nuns called Sisters of the Holy Family, has been declared venerable. The order still exists today, providing services to the poor, the elderly, and schoolchildren, with a presence in four U.S. states and Belize (although Hurricane Katrina forced the closure of operations in New Orleans).

The Zenit piece has it that the order was founded in 1842, but that is in fact when the order changed its name from Sisters of the Presentation to its current title.

[Vanessa L. Williams played Ven. Henriette DeLille in a Lifetime movie called The Courage to Love. DeLille is portrayed as having chosen her religious vocation over the vocation of marriage with a Dr. Gerard Gaultier, who was white. Whether that story is apocryphal, I have no idea.]

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