Elizabeth Langstroth Drexel Smith (1855-1890) and Louise Bouvier Drexel Morrell (1863-1945)

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Elizabeth Langstroth Drexel Smith (1855-1890) and Louise Bouvier Drexel Morrell (1863-1945) When Francis Martin Drexel (1792–1863) arrived in Philadelphia from the Austrian territory of Tyrol in 1817, he might have established a family of artisans—he was an accomplished artist and musician. Instead, his interest in finance, coupled with his business savvy, earned him a niche as patriarch of one of the wealthiest, most philanthropic families in the United States. Drexel’s sons, Francis...
read more

Philadelphia’s Sainted Katharine Drexel: “Mother and Servant of the Indian and Negro Races”

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Philadelphia’s Sainted Katharine Drexel: “Mother and Servant of the Indian and Negro Races” On Thursday morning, January 27, 1887, the Drexel sisters of Philadelphia attended a private mass conducted by Pope Leo XIII (1810–1903) in Rome’s fabled Vatican. As members of one of the wealthiest and most devout Catholic families in the United States, the three young women — Elizabeth, age 31, Katharine, age 28, and Louise, age 23 — were also given a rare audience with the pontiff. The...
read more

Letters

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters Saintly Connections The feature story on Saint Katharine Drexel was brilliantly written by William C. Kashatus [“Philadelphia’s Sainted Katharine Drexel,” Summer 2007]. This article is of great interest to our Keating family and others here in northeastern Pennsylvania. My aunt, Esther Keating, of Pittston, Luzerne County, was educated in nursing at the University of...
read more

Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Archbishop Patrick John Ryan: His Life and Times: Ireland — St. Louis — Philadelphia, 1831–1911 by Patrick Ryan published by AuthorHouse Press, 2010; 357 pages, paper, $11.60 Upon the death of Patrick John Ryan (1831– 1911), Archbishop of Philadelphia for more than a quarter century, church bells throughout the city solemnly tolled to mark the passing of the remarkable Irish-born prelate. Ryan...
read more

Artifacts from Immaculate Conception Church

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Artifacts from Immaculate Conception Church Northeastern Pennsylvania’s anthracite (or hard coal) region traces its rich religious diversity to the late nineteenth century, when many newly-arrived ethnic groups established their own neighborhoods and communities, giving rise to a large number of Catholic, Greek, Byzantine, Orthodox, and Protestant churches. The first wave of immigrants, the Welsh, was largely Protestant, but later groups,...
read more