Mother Henriette DeLille: A Woman with a Vision and the Courage to Challenge the Norm

Henriette DeLille is someone that is close to home for many of us. She is one woman that altered the small mindedness of society. Today, we are still dealing with the concept of race and religion that dictate power in our world. Perhaps shedding light on one person who overcame this will inspire many. 

Mother Henriette DeLille was the first person of color to be nominated for sainthood. In 1836, she founded the Catholic order of the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans, Louisiana. Sisters of the Holy Family was a group of free women of color that assisted the sick, hungry, and uneducated while spreading God’s word. This was also the first order of nonwhite nuns in America.

Many have seen the plaque that honors Henriette DeLille in the French Quarters of New Orleans behind St. Joseph’s Cathedral.

However, most do not know that during that time, free women were also mistresses of wealthy white men. Most did not have a choice. The white men had other legitimate lives with plantations and families of their own. Nevertheless, against her mother’s wishes, Henriette rebelled, refusing to have children with these men, and chose a life devoted to God and free of sin. It was during this time, when Henritette was seventeen, that she began her charity work establishing the Sisters of the Holy Family. A significant purpose of this order was to teach her uninformed people to know the Lord. 

I found it very interesting that although, Henriette was of African descent, she was a Creole who actually owned a slave herself. She willingly freed her slave over time.

Many Catholics are taught to pray to Henrietta DeLille when they suffer from prejudice from their peers.

In addition, in 2001, Lifetime premiered a movie about Henriette Delille entitled The Courage to Love. This movie depicted the new class of colored women that arose at that time, creoles. It revealed the great controversy of the love and children born without legal marriage. In the film, Henriette DeLille, played by Vanessa Williams, is portrayed as a devout Catholic who defied every tradition.

Here is a short clip from the film, The Courage to Love.

http://www.jinni.com/movies/the-courage-to-love/videos?type=c&idx=0

Henriette DeLille is the true image of what it means to take a stand and not allow race to define your way of life or religious beliefs. To say she is an inspiration to women of color is an understatement. I believe Henriette was destined to change the way religion and race is viewed. Missionary work isn’t solely the work of white men. She boldly reformed, rattling the cage of what was deemed appropriate for women of color.

Today, there are over 200 members of the Sisters of the Holy Family in Louisiana, Texas, Washington, D.C., Tennessee, Belize, Central America, and Benin City, West Africa.