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More female Catholic saints? Look no further than Mary, Henriette, Julia, and
Thea. 3/24/2024 Black Catholic Messenger: "Of the first six
African-American candidates for sainthood, four are women: Mother Mary Lange,
Mother Henriette DeLille, Ms. Julia Greeley, and Sr Thea Bowman. They were each
a pillar of faith in God, courageous in seeking justice from a White Supremacist
U.S. Catholic Church, and true women for others: helping children, the elderly,
the needy, and Black American Catholics seeking cultural reflection in their
Church."
This saintly friendship saved a groundbreaking religious community 1/5/2024 Aleteia: "St.
John Neumann, not yet a bishop but a parish priest at that time, noticed the
Oblate Sisters in church and offered to help them whenever possible. This
friendship between two holy people, Venerable Mary Elizabeth Lange, OSP, and St.
John Neumann, proved decisive to the future of the order."
Through racism, hatred and war, Oblate Sisters of Providence have stood their
ground in Baltimore 12/19/2023 The Baltimore Banner: "The convent is
leading toward Mother Mary Lange’s journey to sainthood, which started in 1991.
She was declared Venerable in June 2023 and needs two miracles proven before she
can be declared a saint. But many say to look no further for a miracle than the
fact that the Oblate Sisters of Providence started in a time when African
Americans were viewed as second-class citizens and still exist after all this
time."
Long overdue: After 191 years, Oblate Sisters honored for heroic ministry during
cholera epidemic 10/31/2023 Catholic Review: "It was in that milieu that
two women’s religious communities ministered to those afflicted with the
disease: the Sisters of Charity, a religious community founded by St. Elizabeth
Ann Seton in Emmitsburg that was then limited to whites; and the Oblate Sisters
of Providence, the world’s first sustained religious community for Black women
founded by Venerable Mother Mary Lange in Baltimore. While both communities made
heroic contributions trying to save lives, it was the white religious community
that received most of the accolades."
Mother Mary Lange, Founder of First African-American Religious Congregation,
Declared Venerable 6/22/2023 National Catholic Register: "Pope Francis has
advanced the sainthood cause of Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange, a Black religious
sister who founded the country’s first African-American religious congregation
in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1829. The advancement of Mother Lange’s cause from
servant of God to venerable was announced by the Vatican in a decree signed on
June 22. Elizabeth Lange, as she was named, immigrated to the United States from
Cuba in the early 1800s. Recognizing the lack of education for the children of
her fellow Black immigrants, with a friend she established St. Frances Academy
in her own home and with her own money to offer free schooling to Baltimore’s
African American children."
Oblate Sisters to commemorate reinterment of Servant of God Mary Lange on June 3 5/31/2023 Black
Catholic Messenger: "On Saturday, June 3, the Oblate Sisters of Providence will
host a special Mass commemorating their foundress Servant of God Mary Lange’s
reinterment at Our Lady of Mount Providence Convent in Baltimore."
Catholic Charities of Baltimore 2022 Distinguished Service Award - Oblate
Sisters of Providence 11/2/2022 Catholic Charities Baltimore
Mother Mary Lange 7/28/2021 Oblate Sisters of Providence: "A Promotional
Video to help promote the Cause of Mother Lange. A special Thank You to Father
White and the Church of the Nativity for the gift of this video to help spread
the word of Mother Lange and the Oblate Sisters of Providence."
Oblate Sisters of Providence 8/19/2019 Afro News: "Admittedly, the Oblate
Sisters of Providence have decreased in numbers as so many other religious
orders have. Yet, their spirits remain faithful and present in their high school
and their Early Learning Center on the campus of their Mount Providence
Motherhouse in Arbutus. Quality education and service to the poor have always
been the work of the Oblates and will always be. Over the summer, the Oblate
Sisters have held two major celebrations: the first date, July 2 marked the
190th anniversary of the founding of the order. The second was the anniversary
celebration of five members of the organization: Sisters Avila Avila, Charlotte
Marshall, Trinita Baeze, Alexis Fisher and the current Superior General of the
order, Sister Rita Michelle Proctor. These five women represent 310 years of
service to religious life, having given themselves to God, to children and to
those in need."
The Oblate Sisters of Providence: A Story in Memory of Soledad’s Mother Estela 3/23/2019 Matter
of Fact, YouTube: "A story in memory of Soledad O’Brien’s mother, Estela
Marquetti O’Brien. Estela Marquetti was just a teenager when she left Cuba for
the United States. When she arrived, she lived with the Oblate Sisters of
Providence in Baltimore, the first Roman Catholic sisterhood established by the
descendants of African slaves. Matter of Fact takes a look at the order and why
the Oblate sisters are hoping for a miracle."
New resource center to promote African American sainthood causes 8/2/2018 Crux: "The
resource center will initially display information on five black Catholics from
the 18th-20th centuries: Julia Greeley, Pierre Toussaint, Mother Mary Lange,
Henriette Delille, and Father Augustus Tolton. It will also include information
on St. Katharine Drexel, who founded Xavier University of Louisiana, and St.
Kateri Tekakwitha. Other stories of potential saints will be added in the
future, as new causes open."
For special month, snapshots of African American Catholic history 2/1/2018 Crux: "In
1829, several women living in Baltimore, all Haitian refugees, took the
initiative to educate children at home. The archbishop supported them in their
efforts to start the Oblate Sisters of Providence, with the first superior being
Elizabeth Lange, born in Cuba of Haitian parents."
Hermana Evelyn Valencia Molina O.S.P. 2/7/2015 Vimeo: "En el primer párrafo
de las Reglas de este instituto encontramos todo su ideal: “Las Hermanas Oblatas
de la Providencia forman una sociedad de vírgenes de virtudes, de color. Su fin
es consagrarse ellas mismas a Dios de una manera especial no solo para la propia
satisfacción, seguras de contribuir así a la mayor gloria de Dios, sino también
para trabajar por la cristiana educación de los niños negros”.
LAS FELICES OBLATAS DE BALTIMORE 7/3/2014 Moimunan: [El racismo sigue] -
"El video de arriba es un intento de las Hermanas Novus Ordo, Oblatas de la
Providencia de Baltimore, Maryland, de seguir los consejos “del Papa” y llevar a
internet algo de esta “alegría” y “felicidad”. El resultado, por supuesto, no es
más que un conjunto de aspirantes a monjas haciendo el ridículo cantando al son
de un baile simplón, erosionado aún más la dignidad de la vida católica
consagrada tal como la percibe el mundo."
Apóstol de los negros en Baltimore 6/21/2014 bajo la sombra de las palmas
cubanas: "Reconozco que la causa de canonización de la Madre María Lange me
sorprendió, busqué y busqué y así puedo escribir este sencillo artículo sobre
ella. Ojalá pronto la veamos en los altares, como modelo de mujer creyente y
fuerte que buscó en todo anunciar el Evangelio a los negros libres o esclavos."
“Sol” Juana Bacallao: del Vedado a Miami 9/1/2012 Cuba Encuentro: "¿Es
verdad eso de que decidiste usar Juana Bacallao como tu nombre artístico para
que no te pudieran hacer trabajos de brujería? JB: No señor, yo soy negra, pero
me eduqué en colegios de monjas —con las Hermanas Oblatas—, y fue Merceditas
Valdés (otra gran artista cubana ya fallecida) la que me dijo que “al turismo le
gusta el bembé”, y a eso fue a lo que me dediqué."
Una deuda de amor: las Hermanas Oblatas de la providencia. 1/1/2012 Palabra
Nueva: "En 1961 salieron de Cuba, dada la imposibilidad de cumplir entonces su
misión, las cincuenta hermanas, y desde la casa madre en Baltimore recibieron
diversos destinos. En 1964, por invitación del obispo, vicario apostólico de
Limón, en Costa Rica y del cura párroco Siquirris, fueron a trabajar a la bella
tierra costarricense. Entre las cubanas que ingresaron en esta comunidad, además
de la fundadora, reverenda madre Isabel Lange, de la reverenda madre María del
Rosario San Martín Pan y de las religiosas cardenenses ya mencionadas, se
encuentran las hermanas Corde Marie González, de La Habana; Mary Victoria Maxon,
de Nueva Gerona, Isla de Pinos; María Zoila Sifontes, de Camagüey; Mary
Anunciata Fernández, de La Habana; Mary Bernardette Garriga, de Güines; Concepta
Marie Moran, de La Habana, quien regresó a Cuba a 1969, trabajó en la formación
de las novicias de todas las comunidades que estaban en la Isla y vivió con las
religiosas del Servicio Doméstico, en el Cerro."
Amid downturn, trying time for Oblate nuns 11/25/2009 Washington Post: "The
recession is drying up charitable contributions, and the meager income they earn
from teaching is being lost as aging nuns retire. Construction of an infirmary
at the Our Lady of Mount Providence motherhouse, the convent just outside of
Baltimore where about 50 elderly sisters live, was recently halted for lack of
funds. Earlier this year, the sisters fell three months behind on their grocery
bill; food delivery was stopped until the nuns paid up. Not that anyone's
complaining. "Don't make it sound like we're destitute," said Sister Mary Alice
Chineworth, who is 92 and a former superior general of the Oblate order. "We
just had to plan our meals more carefully, eat as little as possible.""
Merceditas Valdés Granit 4/20/2007 Cubarte: "Nacida en el barrio de Cayo
Hueso, el 14 de octubre de 1928, Centro Habana, lugar célebre por sus grandes
tradiciones musicales. Su padre pertenecía al grupo de “Los Roncos” dirigido por
el experimentado rumbero Ignacio Pîñeiro, pero aún así él se oponía a que su
hija siguiera su misma trayectoria. Ella estudiaba en la escuela de monjas “Las
Oblatas de la Providencia ”, situada en la calle Lealtad entre Salud y Reina,
Centro Habana."
The Impact of African Americans in the Catholic Church | EWTN News In Depth, 6
min 2/24/2023 EWTN, YouTube: "From the historical founding of influential
religious orders and the challenges they overcame, to their continual gifts to
the life of the Church, Correspondent Mark Irons dives into the impact that the
African American community has had on the Catholic Church. Hosted by Montse
Alvarado, EWTN News In Depth welcomes guests in a discussion of current events
in the Church, politics, and culture, all through the lens of the Catholic
faith."
Subversive Habits: Black Nuns & Black Power 12/5/2022 Mass Commons: "When
Sr. Joyce Ruth Williams, OSB, who had single-handedly desegregated her community
20 years earlier, and endured countless racist slights in the intervening years
with the help of her deep faith “…that the Church’s social teachings would
eventually prevail over the sin of racism…“, announced King’s death to her
students (all of them white) at St. Cloud’s Cathedral High School, “…after a
long and uncomfortable pause, a male student stood and declared, ‘Well that’s
one down, how many more to go?!“. (pp. 167-168)"
Black Sisters Testify: To Oppressed People, Let Us Bring New Life 11/1/2022 Network
Lobby: "In 1968, when the National Black Sisters’ Conference was founded, I was
30 years old and had been perpetually professed for three years. For that first
meeting I traveled from Denver to Pittsburgh, to the Mercy Sisters’ campus to
meet about 100 of myself! Although I had not seen many other Black Sisters
before, I knew immediately the feeling of home. Sister Martin De Porres Grey,
RSM, was the woman of vision who convened us. Together we reclaimed (or
reaffirmed) our identity, with the realization that Blackness is Gift to
ourselves, our people, our congregations, the church, and beyond. From that
first meeting until now, I have seen NBSC as a support and resource for the
continuing growth of Black women religious, an advocate for justice for all
people and a voice of conscience within the structure of the Catholic Church."
Black nuns fought to make the church truly Catholic 7/26/2022 US
Catholic: "Catholics have neglected the history of Black women religious for far
too long, says historian Shannen Dee Williams." A US Catholic Interview.
Black Catholic nuns: A compelling, long-overlooked history 4/30/2022 WHYY: "Williams
found that many Black nuns were modest about their achievements and reticent
about sharing details of bad experiences, such as encountering racism and
discrimination. Some acknowledged wrenching events only after Williams
confronted them with details gleaned from other sources. “For me, it was about
recognizing the ways in which trauma silences people in ways they may not even
be aware of,” she said. The story is told chronologically, yet always in the
context of a theme Williams forcefully outlines in her preface: that the nearly
200-year history of these nuns in the U.S. has been overlooked or suppressed by
those who resented or disrespected them. “For far too long, scholars of the
American, Catholic, and Black pasts have unconsciously or consciously declared —
by virtue of misrepresentation, marginalization, and outright erasure — that the
history of Black Catholic nuns does not matter,” Williams writes, depicting her
book as proof that their history “has always mattered.”"
‘No Schools, No Churches!’ 4/18/2022 Commonweal Magazine: by Dr. Shannen
Dee Williams - "After Hopewell’s removal and the forced transfers of all five
OSP members assigned to Saints Paul and Augustine for the 1969–70 academic year,
Black lay Catholics in D.C. protested what they called “the politics of genocide
being performed on…the Oblate Sisters by the white hierarchy of Washington,
D.C.” Black parents cited the “persistent, sinister pressure…constantly exerted
on the black women of the Oblate Order to ‘keep them in their place’ and to
‘whip them into line.’” They also championed the commitment of Neal and Hopewell
to the Black community, noting that “those who come under the most merciless
attack are the faithful, loyal women who have the courage and stamina to defend
the rights and interests of black children.”"
Statement: National Black Sisters' Conference on USCCB head Gómez' speech
against social justice movements 11/16/2021 Black Catholic Messenger: "The
nation's Black sisters are the first Black Catholic organization to directly
address this month's controversial statements from Archbishop José Gómez."
The first real New Orleans saint? Henriette Delille's path to canonization 3/2/2017 NOLA: "After
the deaths of her two young children born through a concubine relationship,
however, Delille at age 24 formally rejected the societal norms and experienced
a religious transformation that eventually led to the formation of the Sisters
of the Holy Family order. The community of Creole nuns provided care for those
on the bottom rung of antebellum society, administering to the elderly, nursing
the sick and teaching people of color who at the time had limited education
opportunities. To this day, Holy Family nuns continue to serve out the mission
launched in the mid-1800s by doing good works around the globe."
A Cadre of Women Religious Committed to Black Liberation: The National Black
Sisters' Conference 2/1/1996 JSTOR: by Shawn Copeland - "As a Catholic
women's organization, the National Black Sisters'Conference (NBSC) commands a
unique position not only in discussions of contemporary vowed religious life in
the United States, but also in discussions of organized efforts in the 1960s for
the cause of black cultural, political, and economic liberation. Prior to the
foundation of the National Black Sisters' Conference in 1968, public perception
of black women religious was configured almost exclusively by the three black
religious congregations - the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the Sisters of the
Holy Family, and the Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary. By
making visible and uniting black women vowed religious, and especially those
black members of predominantly white religious congregations, the Conference
reshaped public perception of Catholic sisters both within the Church, the black
Catholic community, and the black community at large. In a most proactive way,
the NBSC promoted and advocated an 'image' of the black Catholic sister and her
mission in terms of liberation. The Conference understood and presented itself
as a grassroots organization concerned with the interests, protection, and
development of the individual sister."
"La realización de Hermanas de corazon” por Gloria Rolando, grupo de video Imagenes del Caribe
"The Making of Sisters of the Heart",
by Gloria Rolando
Mother Mary Lange
en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mother_Mary_Lange
msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/013500/013580/pdf/stegman.pdf
Mother Mary Lange by Carolyn B. Stegman
sfacademy.org/mother-mary-lange-elizabeth-clarissa-lange/
St Frances Academy
Mary Elizabeth Clovis Lange (c. 1784-1882)
Oblate Sisters/Hermanas Oblatas
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblate_Sisters_of_Providence
www.facebook.com/Oblate.Sisters.of.Providence
www.oblatesisters.com/History.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merceditas_Vald%C3%A9s
Her father was Ángel Valdés, known as Angelito "El Dichoso" (The Lucky One), a
musician in Ignacio Piñeiro's influential rumba ensemble Los Roncos.[4] Unlike
her mother, his father did not want her daughter to become a musician, so she
started her career as a nun in the black congregation Hermanas Oblatas de la
Providencia.[3] However, she soon began to stand out as a singer, winning
several prizes awarded by the radio show Corte Suprema del Arte, where she sang
songs such as "Babalú" by Margarita Lecuona.
Oblate Sisters
articles.baltimoresun.com/keyword/oblate-sisters
Oblate Sisters of Providence Library
www.loc.gov/rr/main/religion/ospl.html
www.blackpast.org/aah/oblate-sisters-providence-1828
history.uga.edu/directory/diane-batts-morrow
www.amazon.com/Persons-Color-Religious-Same-Time/dp/0807854018/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222114247&sr=8-3
facebook.com/Hermanas-Oblatas-de-la-Providencia-666471933453329/
ASOCIACION HERMANAS OBLATAS DE LA DIVINA PROVIDENCIA, El Salvador
National Black Sisters' Conference
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Black_Sisters%27_Conference
Black Sisters
MOTHER MATHILDA BEASLEY (1832-1903)
Shannen Dee Williams, Historian
Shannen Dee Williams : University of Dayton, Ohio (udayton.edu)
Amazon.com: Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle
masscommons.wordpress.com/2022/12/05/subversive-habits-black-nuns-black-power/
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Las Hermanas Oblatas de la Providencia