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Anne-Thérèse Guérin was born in Etables, France on October 2, 1798. Her father, Laurent Guérin, was an officer in the French navy and was often away from the family for long periods of time. When Anne-Thérèse was fifteen, her father was murdered by bandits whom he encountered on his way home for a family visit. Isabelle Guérin, the mother of Anne-Thérèse, fell into deep depression as a result of the loss of her husband. Anne-Thérèse bore the responsibility of caring for her mother and her young sister as well as the family’s home and garden for the next ten years.

Statuary Hall is a chamber of the United States Capitol devoted to sculptures of prominent Americans. Of the many men and women honored by the fifty States in Statuary Hall, four of them are Catholic priests. Our saint for this week is one of those four priests represented in Statuary Hall: Saint Damien de Veuster of Molokai. Joseph de Veuster was born in Tremelo, Belgium in 1840 to a poor farmer and his wife. At the age of 13, he left school to help his parents on the farm. When he was nineteen, he entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary where he received Damien as his religious name. His older brother, Pamphile, was also a priest in this congregation. The Sacred Hearts Fathers agreed to provide pastoral care to the natives living on the Hawaiian Islands. Let me provide a little background to the pastoral situation the Sacred Hears Fathers were taking on.

We continue this series of columns on American Saints and Blesseds. Our Saint of the day: Saint Katharine Drexel. She was born in Philadelphia. Her father was an international banker and a member of one of the wealthiest families in the United States of America. Katharine had an excellent education through private tutors and traveled widely as a young woman. She learned the hard way that money could not buy safety from pain or death as she nursed her stepmother through a three-year-battle with a terminal illness.

In the liturgical calendar adapted for use in the United States, January 23 has been designated as the optional memorial of Saint Marianne Cope. Barbara Koob was born in Germany in 1838. Before she was two years old her family emigrated to the United States. At some point in time the family name was changed to Cope. Her family settled in Utica, New York where they became members of St. Joseph Parish. Barbara attended the local parish elementary school. After completing the eighth grade Barbara went to work in a textile factory to support her family.