Mother Henriette Delille
Religious, Foundress
To appreciate Henriette Delille accomplishments, it is important
to remember what life was like in the 1800’s.
In a growing young country, there were many financial, economic and
social opportunities for ambitious white men. White women had fewer opportunities. They were unable to vote and had few
education options. Most married and
raised a family. Now, try to image what
life was like for slaves. Forbidden by law to learn to read or write, they
could be sold or beaten at the whim of the master. Some were able to buy their freedom or were
freed by their masters. Some freed slaves owned property and even had slaves
themselves. Nonetheless, they were still limited by their skin color.
In New Orleans there was another class of people called “free
people of color”. These were free people
of mixed race. They were not slaves but
were never fully accepted by white society. Women of color were not legally able to marry
outside their racial group yet marrying within their class meant their own
children would have few opportunities. Many free women of color saw an chance
to help their children have a better life by not marrying at all but
by becoming the mistresses of wealthy white men. If being white was the ‘key’ to success, then
their light-skinned children would have far more opportunities for advancement.
The children coulc and often were acknowledge by their fathers, given their father’s name, baptized,
educated and in some cases heirs to their fathers estates. The daughters would do as their mothers and
form liaisons with wealthy white men.
Henriette was born in 1812, the youngest of three
children. Her mother and grandmother had
formed liaisons with wealthy white men.
Henriette grew up surrounded by a large extended family. She was raised
to take her place as a mistress as had the generations before her. God had other plans for young Henriette.
In 1824, Henriette met Sister St. Marthe Fontier, a French
nun who had opened a school for free people of color. Sister St. Marthe taught the children during
the day and their elders at night. Her
instructions included the teachings of the Catholic church as well as reading
and writing. Henriette and several other
young girls were inspired by Sister to teach religion to the slaves. Henriette refused to carry on the tradition
of being a mistress and had found her life’s work. She prayed, visited the sick and taught religion.
In 1835, Henriette sold some property she had inherited and
with two other women set out to establish a community of black Sisters .
They named the new community the Sisters of the Presentation. This
attempt ended in failure because of a law that made it illegal for white and blacks
to establish close contact with one another.
One of the founding members, Marie Jeanne Aliquot was a white woman from
France. Henriette had the support of the Bishop of New Orleans and Father Etienne Rousslon. Many other people in the city thought the idea of black nuns was ridiculous. In 1842, Henriette and Juliette Gaudin began again and established the Sisters of the Holy Family.
The sisters worked among the poor and needy. They often
went to bed hungry, having given their food away.
Mother Henriette was responsible for the physical and spiritual well-being of
her community. During these years of
constant work and worry, her health was bad but with God’s grace and strength she was able to
continue her work.
It wasn’t until November 21, 1852 that the sisters were able
to take private vows to ’dedicate the rest of their lives to the service of
God, the Church and the poor’. Mother Henriette died in 1862 at the age of
50. At her death there were 12 sisters
in the community. By 1865, eight women
had left the community. It seemed as if
the community would fail. It wasn’t until 1869, seven years after their
Foundress death, that the small group
received a rule, were able to wear a habit and made public vows of
poverty, chastity and obedience.
Eventually God blessed the community with new members and it grew. The Sisters of the Holy Family operate schools, care for the
elderly and the very young. Mother Henrietta’s
cause for canonization was introduced in 1989.
For more information see:
Or
“Heroic Catholic of the Twentieth Century”
By Sister Elizabeth Ann Barkett, SJW
New Hope Publishing, New Hope, KY.
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