Sister Thea Bowman

Sister Thea Bowman was born on December

29th, 1937 in Yazoo City, MS. Her death was March
30, 1990 in Canton, MS. Bowman was a teacher
and scholar, who made a major contribution of the
church to her people (African Americans). She later
became an evangelist to her people and was a very
popular and important speaker on faith and
spiritually in her final years. She had a very
important role in successfully founding the National
Black Sisters Conference to give support to AfricanAmerican women in Catholic religious institutes.

James Augustine Healy

James Augustine Healy was born on April 6th,
1830 in Macon, GA. His death was August 5th, 1900.
He was the first born of 10 children to Michael and
Mary Eliza Healy on a cotton plantation in Georgia.
In 1844, Healy was sent to grammar, secondary
and collegiate schools at the new Holy Cross
College in Worcester, Massachusetts. He graduated
as valedictorian in the first graduating class of
1849. He later became bishop in 1875. He
proposed three major pieces of church legislation
that passed the Third Council of Baltimore. Twentyfive years later, James died due to a heart attack in

Portland, MD. Over 200 priests, seven bishops,

many judges, state legislators and several
community leaders attended his funeral.

Henriette DeLille
Henriette DeLille was born in 1813 in New
Orleans. She died in 1862 in New Orleans. DeLille
was an American nun who funded the Roman
Catholic order of the Sisters of the Holy Family in
New Orleans, which was the institution of free
women of color. The order gave access to nursing
care and a home for orphans, later establishing
schools as well. In 1988 the order formally opened
the cause with the Holy See of the canonization of
DeLille. In 2010, she was declared to Venerable by
Pope Benedict XVI.