A saint and her family in Bar Harbor
by Father Joseph E. Daniels

In recent years, the long residential expanse of Ledgelawn Avenue in Bar Harbor has become a mecca on Halloween as youngsters from Mount Desert Island collect their treats from the closely spaced houses.  After Oct.1, its sidewalks may become a pilgrim path for Catholic faithful and other proud Americans who may wish to learn more about our second native-born saint.

   Bar Harbor is so honored during this Jubilee year by the canonization of Katharine Mary Drexel, a native of Philadelphia and foundress of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Black and native-Americans.  In the years following the 1891 foundation of her Order in Bensalem, Penn., Katharine Drexel built a network of missions, schools, and colleges principally throughout the South and West to serve these minorities.  In the early part of the previous century which witnessed the rise of repression and segregation in the Jim Crow South as well as the utter destitution of Native-Americans, Mother Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament stood virtually alone, representing the Catholic church in the cause of civil rights along with the priests whose vocations they encouraged and sustained through this monumental work.

Bar Harbor is eager to receive the patronage of this saintly heroine for it was a place to which she came most summers to visit her sister Louise and her husband General Edward Morrell at the cottage "Thurlstane."  Ever interested in furthering the Catholic education of the young faithful, General and Mrs. Morrell completed the building of Saint Edward's School and Convent in 1918, there-upon presenting it to Bishop Louis Walsh, the ordinary of the Diocese of Portland in exchange for the sum of one dollar.

Mother Drexel and her sister Louise would return many times to visit the former Saint Edward's Catholic School on Shannon Road and the Convent on Ledgelawn Avenue at Christmas.  They would attend the children's seasonal pageant, and distribute gifts of winter clothing and gear to the students.  During the summer months, the students would sail the upper reaches of Frenchman's Bay on the Morrell yacht to Calf Island where they would enjoy a picnic and swimming.

This most prominent summer family was a special source of pride to the members of holy Redeemer Church, some of whose senior parishioners from both far and near still recall the presence of the Drexel family even now.  By the instruction of the sisters of Mercy, who had originally prepared Mother Drexel for religious life, and the support of the Morrells, Mount Desert Island students were provided with a Catholic education at no cost until Blessed Katharine's death in 1955 at the age of 97.  At that time, she was sole proprietor of her family's estate, then having an estimated worth of $14 million.  Her Religious Order and the causes of her and her sisters would lose the income from the trust so that the original intentions of her father could be fulfilled.

Saint Edward's School and Convent were not among the many legacies of this great family to continue today, each having been closed in 1967 and 1977 respectively.  Fortunately, these two buildings remain in well-maintained condition, the school as an apartment complex and the convent as the home of the Bar harbor Historical society.  The Society welcomes visitors each afternoon and the curator is happy to take visitors to the second floor chapel where they can view the facial images of General Edward and Mrs. Louise Morrell in stained grass windows depicting Saint Edward and Saint Louis as well as the adjacent room where Mother Katharine stayed as a regular guest of the Sisters of Mercy.

The impact of the Drexel family within the Church is known most prominently today through Xavier University in New Orleans, Drexel University in Philadelphia, the continued apostolate of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and the national collection for Black and Native-American Missions, instituted at the urging of Mother Katharine.  This collection benefits Catholics in Maine today, by supporting the Native-American Missions at Indian Island, Pleasant Point, and Indian Township.

Born on Nov. 26, 1858 to Francis Anthony Drexel and Hannah Langstroth, Katharine and her two sisters, Elizabeth and Louise flourished in an atmosphere of social prominence and fervent religious piety which undoubtedly sustained them through the death of their mother while they were still very young.  their stepmother was Emma Bouvier, from whose family lineage would come Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.  Their father, himself of a prominent Austrian banking family was the founder of Drexel and Company which remains today as one of the leading forces in the financial services industry.

From the mid-nineteenth century, this august family furthered the development of Catholic schools and institutions in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which in time would enjoy the largest percentage of Catholic students enrolled of any diocesan system in the country.  It was on a trip to the West with their father who was seeking to capitalize the Northern Pacific Railroad, that the Drexel daughters first encountered the Native-Americans who would inspire them to carry their support of the work of the Church far beyond Philadelphia and its fame Main Line.

 On this trip, Elizabeth and Louise, once beyond the extent of the railroad, continued their westward journey on horseback.  Katharine, not sharing her sisters' love for all things equestrian, preferred to remain under the protective top of the Conestoga wagon!  Such interest in horses, presaged Louise's enjoyment of equine events with her eventual husband, General Morrell, who for many years was the president of the Horse Show and Fair Association.  For this organization, the Morrells built a track and grandstand for the enjoyment and participation by the sporting set.  The site was ultimately bequeathed to the Jackson Laboratory, for the construction of its prominent center of genetics research, today the largest employer on Mount Desert Island.

The influence of Philadelphia and its Main Line was definitively strong in Bar Harbor during the first half of the last century.  General Morrell was a three-term Member of Congress and an official of the gubernatorial cabinet in service of the Keystone State.  Mount Desert Street, on which Holy Redeemer Church was erected in 1908, was previously called "Philadelphia Avenue."

Holy Redeemer Parish is planning a pilgrimage to the Vatican for the canonization ceremonies to be held in Saint Peter's Square on Oct. 1, 2000.  In preparation for this great event, there has been a continual effort in renewing the memory of this Catholic family and in raising awareness of the civil rights movement in which Katharine Drexel was both a pioneer and the Church's most proud and prominent presence.  Bar Harbor is especially privileged to have played a role in the life of our country's second native-born saint.

Blessed Katharine Mary Drexel
(1858-1955)

Links
and
Photos

Katharine age 7

Katharine age 21


Katharine's First Profession



 

Pope Proclaims Katharine a Saint!

Katharine and the Vatican