Documents on life, virtue of Mother Henriette Delille sent to Rome

Published: 2005-07-18

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- A box containing nearly 6,000 pages of testimony and other documents on the life of Mother Henriette Delille has been sent to the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes. A June 30 ceremony at the motherhouse of the Sisters of the Holy Family, founded by Mother Henriette, marked the closing of the New Orleans archdiocesan investigation into the life, virtue and reputation of sanctity of the free woman of color whose sainthood cause was endorsed unanimously by the U.S. bishops in 1997. "She is a model that it is possible for people of her race to rise to the highest honor the church gives," said Sister Sylvia Thibodeaux, the congregation's superior. "I think it's like Pope John Paul II, who was so holy and so good and loved people, and he was a human being like us. It shows that it's possible for any of us to strive for holiness," she added. Mother Henriette's cause was opened in 1988, and she is recognized by the church as a servant of God.

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