Philanthropist Saints: 4 Women Who Used Their Money to Make a Difference
“Afterward he journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources” (Luke 8:1-3).
On a recent Instagram Live interview with coach and “possibility mom” Lisa Canning, Lisa asked an intriguing question: What if the world’s wealth was held by Catholics? What wonderful things could we do with our money?
Of course, neither she nor I am suggesting some form of redistribution of wealth to take the world’s money and put it in the hands of Catholics — but it might be a helpful thought exercise to help us consider what our money could do for the world, to love God’s children and share his Word.
After all, as I recently heard someone point out, the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10), not money itself. If we make money into an idol, we are sure to stumble. But if we use it to “do something beautiful for God,” as St. Teresa of Calcutta would say, it could become, along with prayer and sacrifice, a tool in our path toward becoming saints.
Here are a few saints with varying degrees of wealth who used their money and power to make a difference. Their wealth was not what made them saints; it was their love of God and others that inspired them to use that wealth to serve.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary
“How can I, a wretched creature, continue to wear a crown of earthly dignity, when I see my King Jesus Christ crowned with thorns?”
St. Elizabeth was a 13th-century queen who, according to Franciscan Media, “chose a life of penance and asceticism when a life of leisure and luxury could easily have been hers.” In partnership with her husband, she dedicated herself to charity and prayer. After he died, she became a third order Franciscan and founded a hospital in St. Francis’ honor. She died at age 24 of an illness, perhaps as a result of working so closely with the sick.
In a 2010 address, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said that St. Elizabeth “is a true example for all who have roles of leadership: the exercise of authority, at every level, must be lived as a service to justice and charity, in the constant search for the common good.” One story from her life demonstrates her example of loving kindness and is one of a couple of miracles that occurred while she was still alive: She brought a child with leprosy into her home and her bed to care for him. When her mother-in-law complained about it to her husband, her husband went to the bed, drew back the covers, and saw a vision of Christ crucified. As the story goes, he then told Elizabeth, “Dear Elizabeth, you may always receive guests like that. I shall even thank you for it.”
St. Zélie Guérin Martin
“I want to become a saint; it will not be easy at all. I have a lot of wood to chop and it is as hard as stone. I should have started sooner, while it was not so difficult; but in any case ‘better late than never.’”
The mother of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Zélie Martin was a wife, craftswoman and business owner, and mother of nine children (five of whom survived early childhood). Not only did she raise a doctor of the Church, but Zélie was also a devout Catholic, a third order Franciscan, and a kind boss.
Her letters reveal that she often wished she could give up the business to spend more time with her daughters, but they also show her generosity with her employees. She worked hard to make sure she could pay them well, visited them when they were ill, and took seriously her responsibility as an employer. She and her husband, St. Louis Martin (who gave up his own watchmaking business to work with her more successful lace making business) were also very charitable, taking people in who needed care and giving their time and money to the poor.
St. Katharine Drexel
“Ours is the spirit of the Eucharist, the total gift of self.”
St. Katharine Drexel was the daughter of a wealthy American banker and philanthropist who taught her “that wealth was meant to be shared with those in need,” according to the website of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, the order she founded. Katherine’s stepmother, Emma, opened their home three days each week to serve the poor and taught Katharine and her sisters to do the same. According to the Philanthropy Roundtable, the family “gave roughly the equivalent of $11 million to charitable causes annually.”
As a layperson and later as a nun, Katharine spent a good deal of her inheritance on missionary and charitable work with Native Americans and Black Americans. She founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in 1891; to this day, their mission is “to share the Gospel message with the poor, especially among the Black and Native American peoples, and to challenge all forms of racism as well as the other deeply rooted injustices in the world today.”
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
“The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly to do it because it is his will.”
The first saint born in America, Elizabeth Ann Seton was raised in a prominent Episcopalian family and converted to Catholicism as an adult. She married a wealthy businessman in 1794, and she lived with him and their five children for almost a decade, “a full life of loving service to her family, care for the underprivileged, and religious development,” according to the National Women’s History Museum.” This life ended with her husband’s death, and upon her conversion to Catholicism, the Museum notes, she faced “three years of financial struggle and social discrimination.”
In 1809, Elizabeth founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s, taking vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and service to the poor and laying the foundation of Catholic education in the United States. While she did not stay wealthy and relied on the generosity of benefactors to do her work, she began her life in privilege and learned the value of charity early on, and her work of loving service did not end when her income did.
These four women lived in different times and led different lives, but they all show us that being poor in spirit does not always mean being poor in finances. Money is a tool, and it’s one that we are all called to use in service of God.
Taryn Oesch DeLong, managing editor of Catholic Women in Business,is an editor and writer in Raleigh, North Carolina. She and her husband are expecting their first child, a daughter, in June. Passionate about supporting women in work, in life, and in health, she is assistant editor and contributing writer at FemCatholic, a contributor at Live Today Well Co. and Natural Womanhood, and a FEMM instructor. When she’s not helping writers craft stories and writing her own nonfiction and fiction, you'll find Taryn reading Jane Austen and drinking a cup of Earl Grey tea, playing the flute or the piano, or volunteering. You can follow Taryn on Instagram and Twitter @tarynmdelong, on LinkedIn, on Facebook, or on her blog.