In 1812, the year of Louisiana's statehood, Henriette Delille was born in a Creole cottage on Burgundy Street in the French Quarter. Her parents were Marie Josephe Diaz, a free woman of color, and Jean Baptiste Lille Sarpy, a married French merchant. Her great-great-grandmother, Nanette, born in West Africa, was enslaved. Being of mixed race was not uncommon in New Orleans; in 1820, free people of color made up roughly 25 percent of the city's population. What circumstances motivated Delille's path to piety? We may never know all the reasons, but there are clues.
Delille's religious education was rooted in traditions of Catholic ministry to women of color. She received religious education from the St. Claude School, which was founded by Sister Ste. Marthe Fontiere. The school implanted in the hearts of young women the desire to give themselves completely to works of charity. Church sacramental records indicate that Delille had two sons who died before the age of three. Amid the heartache of losing children, she began contemplating a life of service to God. By the early 1830s, the seeds were planted for Delille to begin her consecrated life.
Henriette Delille and her friends, Juliette Gaudin and Josephine Charles, came together to establish a religious order. They had the guidance and support of Archbishop Antoine Blanc and Father Etienne Rousselon. On November 21, 1836, Henriette, Juliette, and Josephine began a lay organization called the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where pious laywomen of color could congregate and devote their lives to God.
Delille collaborated with Father Rousselon at the newly opened St. Augustine Church, an integrated congregation in New Orleans's Tremé
neighborhood. In 1842, Rousselon acquired a home near St. Augustine for the Sisters of the Presentation to live in community, and Henriette was named head. Following Rousselon's suggestion, the women changed their name from the Sisters of the Presentation to the Sisters of the Holy Family. In 1850, the group to a house on Bayou Road, where they formed a school for free women of color and ministered to enslaved and free people of color.
On October 15, 1851, Delille made the six-block walk from the Bayou Road house to St. Mary's Chapel and professed the vows of religious life, pledging to live a life defined by poverty, chastity, and obedience. With the conclusion of the ceremony, Delille had joined the ranks of religious sisters—the most exalted position available to women in the Catholic Church.
The work of the congregation began modestly. The sisters focused on caring for aging women and on teaching catechism to enslaved and free girls of color. Their work increased and expanded steadily, which benefited all people of color in New Orleans.
The sisters' humble beginnings grew into an impressive number of schools, a facility for the aged, and a home for orphans. By 1934, the sisters were educating over 4,000 pupils in 17 schools across Louisiana, Texas, and Florida. Their vast ministry spread from New Orleans to many parts of Louisiana, neighboring states, and beyond—from California to the District of Columbia.
For nearly 175 years, the Sisters of the Holy Family have taught, served, and assisted many lost souls. Their long history of service began with the faithful charism of a single-hearted woman, who discovered her calling in life and pledged, "I believe in God. I hope in God. I love. I want to live and die for God."
Henriette Delille died on November 17, 1862. Her obituary was a modest paragraph, printed in New Orleans's Catholic newspaper, the Propagateur Catholique. It describes Delille as the founder of the House of the Holy Family, devoted to the education of the ignorant and enslaved. Her death came at a pivotal point for the young order of the Sisters of the Holy Family. By the end of the Civil War, there remained about five sisters in the order. Morale was low, and a flood of newly emancipated people coming to New Orleans required the sisters' attention and resources. The sisters faced an uncertain future as they slowly rebuilt their order amid national tumult and racial tensions.
In 1988, the cause for Henriette Delille's canonization began—126 years after her death. For the next 17 years, a team of sisters, archbishops, bishops, priests, scholars, and volunteers worked to complete a serious study of Delille's life. In the summer of 2005, weeks before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the local phase was completed and sent to Rome. In May 2009, the positio—the summary and defense of documentation—was approved by seven Roman historians and nine theologians. On March 27, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI declared Henriette Delille venerable.
In the years following Delille's death, the Sisters of the Holy Family struggled while ministering to the poor. To supplement their income, the small community of women sewed for local stores and factories. Slowly, the number of sisters grew, and by 1880, they were responsible for seven ministries, including convents, schools, orphanages, and a home for the elderly. In 1881, under the leadership of Sister Josephine Charles, the congregation purchased the Orleans Ballroom, located at 717 Orleans Street (now Orleans Avenue).
The ballroom, in its early history, hosted extravagant events for wealthy socialites of New Orleans, and its name carried a scandalous reputation. Controversy surrounded the sisters' decision to purchase the property, though in the end, they believed that they alone could purge the property of its sordid past.
The sisters eventually purchased adjacent lots and enlarged their complex to include a convent, St. Mary's School for young ladies of color, a boys' home and school, and a facility for the aged. St. Mary's School flourished and expanded into a secondary school. It was later renamed St. Mary's Academy. The former ballroom served the needs of the sisters for over 80 years.
By 1948, the Sisters of the Holy Family had outgrown their convent on Orleans Avenue and looked to build on property previously purchased by Mother Austin Jones. Far from the French Quarter, in an area known as Gentilly, the 123-acre tract of land was perfect for the construction of a new motherhouse. In 1955, the sisters completed their move to the new convent.
Over the next several decades, the sisters moved their ministries close to their motherhouse grounds. In 1964, the sisters sold the Orleans Avenue property, and St. Mary's Academy moved to the Gentilly site. In 1973, the Lafon Nursing Facility also made the move to Gentilly. In 1986, the sisters opened Delille Inn, independent apartments for elderly people. Although the number of sisters started to decline in the early 1990s, they were devoted to advancing their work.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina left the sisters with immense losses. Seven of their nine facilities were completely destroyed. The sisters' financial losses totaled more than $18 million. When the sisters talk about Katrina, they compare their trials to those of the foundresses, explaining that "sufferings and ills of today may have a different face, but the pain is as intense and severe as during their day."
Today, the Sisters of the Holy Family oversee schools, daycare centers, and facilities for the elderly. These sisters continue to teach and celebrate the life and legacy of Henriette Delille.
Expansion of the ministry continued into the turn of the twentiety century. On March 31, 1898, Mother Mary Austin Jones and six Sisters of the Holy Family boarded a steamer destined for Stann Creek, a settlement of British Honduras (today's Belize). Two weeks later, the sisters took charge of Sacred Heart public school and opened a school for students whose parents could afford to pay tuition. Later, they established Austin High, the nation's first girls' high school outside of Belize City. The missionary sisters were considered educational pioneers and successfully promoted native religious vocations to their congregation and to the priesthood. 50 Belizean women joined the order in the twentieth century.
The Sisters of the Holy Family closed their mission in 2008, after 110 years of missionary service. Their legacy continues through the Associates of the Sisters of the Holy Family, an organization formed by lay women and men whose lives were influenced by the missionary sisters and wanted to live in accordance with their charism.
In 1973, Mother Rose de Lima Hazeur, in response to a request by the Nigerian archbishop, sent three sisters to Nigeria to establish a new community of African religious sisters. Their mission was to aid women and children sold into the sex slave trade. They worked to identify victims, offer safe haven, and secure documentation to repatriate them to their home land. After 18 years of honoring their ties to Africa, the sisters completed their mission and left the community strong.