Venerable Henriette Delille

Born: March 11, 1813
Death: November 17, 1862
Cause for Canonization Opened: 1988
Declared Venerable: March 27, 2010

Venerable Henriette Delille, born in 1813 in New Orleans, Louisiana, was a free woman of color and passionate about her faith from a very young age. Wanting to bring an education to the poor girls of New Orleans, she began teaching at a Catholic school by age 14. At 21 she was confirmed and immediately pursued religious life. In 1835, after inheriting all of her mother’s assets and having put enough aside to care for her mentally ill mother, Henriette sold the remaining property and used the proceeds to start her own religious congregation, the Sisters of the Holy Family (originally named the Sisters of the Presentation), the second Black religious order established in the United States. Their mission was to nurse the sick, care for the poor, and educate the ignorant, they established the first Catholic nursing home in the United States, Lafon Nursing Facility.

Henriette lived a life of courage, kindness, and service — read her story here.

Prayer for the Beatification of Venerable Henriette Delille

O good and gracious God, You called Henriette Delille to give herself in service and in love to the slaves and the sick, to the orphan and the aged, to the forgetten and the despised.

Grant that inspired by her life, we might be renewed in heart and in mind.  If it be Your will may she one day be raised to the honor of sainthood.  By her prayers, may we live in harmony and peace, through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. 

Amen.

Nihil obstat:  Rev, Msgr. Franz Graef, S.T.D.

Imprimatur:  Most Reverend Francis B. Schulte

Archbishop of New Orleans Louisiana 

August 23, 1997