The Philanthropic Examples of Saints Katharine Drexel and Frances of Rome
“Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking off every yoke? Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry, bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own flesh?”
“If you lavish your food on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your gloom shall become like midday; Then the LORD will guide you always and satisfy your thirst in parched places, will give strength to your bones and you shall be like a watered garden, like a flowing spring whose waters never fail” (Isaiah 58:6-7, 10-11).
“Frances of Rome giving alms,” Giovanni Battista Gaulli
Bearing Fruit: Cultivating the Garden of Our Hearts
Gardens are an important setting in Scripture. Adam and Eve are created in the Garden of Eden, born out of God’s great love for us (Genesis 2). Jesus prays and suffers in the Garden of Gethsemane before he is arrested and crucified (Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:39-46)—again, out of love for us.
This Lent, the Catholic Women in Business team is meditating on our interior garden, where we can invite God to help us bear fruit. As St. Augustine wrote, “The turn of phrase by which the man is said to work the land, which is already land, into also being landscaped and fertile, is the same as the one by which God is said to work the man, who was already a man, into also being godfearing and wise.”
In the last week, we’ve celebrated the feast days of two women who have a lot to teach us about generosity. Last week was the feast of St. Katharine Drexel, and today is the feast of St. Frances of Rome.
St. Katharine Drexel (1858-1955) was an American heiress whose family, according to the Philanthropy Roundtable, gave the equivalent of $11 million to charity each year. Katharine spent her inheritance on missionary and charitable work with Native Americans and Black Americans, founding the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in 1891 “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. Frances of Rome (1384-1440) was an Italian noblewoman who felt drawn to the religious life but instead was married to a nobleman at a young age. While she resisted this vocation at first, she ultimately submitted to God’s will and devoted herself to her family and to charitable work, organizing a group of wealthy women called the Oblates of Mary who lived a lay life following the Rule of St. Benedict and serving the sick. Eventually, the widowed members of the order lived in community together, and Frances joined them and became their superior when her husband (and, sadly, her children) died.
Though they lived on different continents and in different centuries—and had different vocations—there are some common themes from Katharine’s and Frances’ lives, and as Catholic women in business, we can learn from them:
The Importance of Family Life
In the lives of both Katharine and Frances, we can see the importance of family life. Katharine’s parents taught her and her sisters the importance of generosity and fostered in them a love of the poor and the suffering. Frances, meanwhile, always put her family responsibilities first—including her significant role managing a wealthy household.
For those of us who are mothers, our task is clear: Our family is our primary vocation, and we cannot do charitable work at the expense of caring for them. At the same time, it’s important to teach our children the importance of generosity. Simple activities such as encouraging siblings to share or giving away toys or clothing can teach the virtue of charity, but it’s also important to expand generosity beyond the home. When our daughter is a little older, my husband and I hope to find opportunities to volunteer as a family, perhaps by performing a corporal work of mercy (such as feeding the hungry).
For women who are not mothers, how can you be generous with your family? Can you volunteer with your husband or spend time with an elderly relative? I’ve been a sporadic pen pal with my grandfather since I was in college and am trying to become a more regular letter-writer to him. What loved one can you bless with your time today?
The Value of Sisterhood
Both Katharine and Frances found literal and spiritual sisterhood to be a help in their vocation. Frances’ sister-in-law was a kindred spirit with a similar religious and philanthropic bent, and they prayed, went to Mass, and visited hospitals and prisons together. Frances and Katharine (who also grew up with two sisters) both had spiritual sisters as well, in the Oblates of Mary and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, respectively.
Do you have friends you could volunteer with? What about someone to go to daily Mass with? Could you join (or start!) a Bible study, book club, or other small group? If you have some wealth to share, what about forming a giving circle to combine philanthropic forces and make an impact with other women?
The Need to Listen and Submit to God’s Voice
We frequently see in the lives of the saints the importance of discernment—of really listening to God’s voice—and Frances and Katharine are no different. One lesson to glean from their lives is the importance of hearing God’s voice through trusted spiritual advisers and friends. When Frances expressed her sadness at getting married, her confessor reportedly asked her, “Are you crying because you want to do God’s will or you want God to do your will?” What a powerful reminder to let go of our own desires and surrender our plans to God!
Katharine also initially felt called to a contemplative life, but her spiritual director (who later became a bishop) told her to start a new religious order dedicated to serving Black and Native Americans. He wrote to her, “I was never so sure of any vocation, not even my own, as I am of yours. If you do not establish the order in question, you will allow to pass an opportunity of doing immense service to the Church which may not occur again.”
Katharine’s response, after a private retreat, was, “It was only this morning that I could promise Our Lord to please Him by entering fully into your plan of founding an order. As long as I look on self, I cannot. Our Lord gives and will give me the grace always to look at Him.”
I love volunteering and giving money. I would love to have more money so that I could give more of it away and more time so that I could use it to volunteer more. Right now, however, as a new wife and mother, I am being called mostly to other forms of generosity. I spend some time volunteering, but the primary way God is calling me to be generous is with my heart and my time, in my home, with my daughter.
Learning to listen to and obey God’s voice is a humbling and challenging experience. This Lent, I encourage you to reflect not on how you want to be generous but on how God is calling you to be generous. With the examples of Saints Katharine and Frances, may this season be fruitful for you and for the people you love!
Taryn Oesch DeLong is a Catholic wife and mother in North Carolina. After 10 years in nonprofit and editorial work, she left the workplace to be a stay-at-home mom and freelance editor and writer. She encourages women to live out their feminine genius as the managing editor of Catholic Women in Business, a FEMM fertility awareness instructor, and a contributor to publications for Catholic women. Taryn enjoys curling up with a cup of Earl Grey and a good novel, playing the piano, and taking walks in the sunshine with her family. Connect with her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or read her blog, Everyday Roses.