Henriette DeLille
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Henriette DeLille (1813-1862) was born in New Orleans to Jean Baptiste DeLille Sarpy , a wealthy French Creole, and Poupone Dias, a quadroon. Their union was a common law marriage typical of the placage system of the day.
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[edit] Early life
Mother Henriette Delille was born in Louisiana in 1812 to parentage who were born in the French Louisiana Territory, which made them Native Born French Creoles. Her father, Jean Baptiste (de Lille) Lille (Sarpi) Sarpy (French/Italian) was born in 1762 in Fumel, Lot-et-Garonne, France and her mother, Marie-Josephe Diaz, of French, Spanish and African ancestry, a French Creole, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her grandparents were John Joseph Diaz, a Spanish wealthy merchant, and Henriette Dubreuil Laveau, French Creole. Her great grandparents were Jean Sarpi and Cecile Marthe Basile Dubreuil, whose father was Claude Villars Dubreuil born in 1716, from France. (See 2 copies of Genealogy of Mother Delille) also (See Pages copied from the book, “No Cross, No Crown” written by Sr. Detiege and Dr. Charles Nolan, which outlines Mother Delille’s Creole ancestry and who were permitted to join the Order in the years 1842 - l865).
Trained by her mother in French literature, music, dancing, and nursing, Henriette was groomed to take her place in the placage system as the common law wife of a wealthy white man. As a young woman, under the watchful eye of her mother, she attended many quadroon balls.
She was drawn to a strong religious belief in the teaching of the Catholic church, however, and resisted the life her mother suggested. She became an outspoken opponent of the system of placage, on the grounds that it represented a violation of the Catholic sacrament of marriage.
In 1827, at the age of 14, the well educated Henriette began teaching at the local Catholic school. Over the next several years, her devotion to caring for and education of the poor grew, causing conflict with her mother.
[edit] The Sisters of the Holy Family
[edit] Founded in 1837
In 1835, her mother suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of this conflict. Later that year, the court declared her incompetent, and granted Henriette control of her assets. After providing for her mother's care, Henriette sold all her remaining property, and in 1836 used the proceeds to found a small unrecognized order of nuns, the Sisters of the Presentation. The original members consisted of Henriette, seven young Creole women, and a young French woman.
Her brother, Jean DeLille, was strongly opposed to her activities. He, like other members of their family, was light skinned enough to pass for white, and his sister's actions within the Creole community exposed his heritage. Embittered and estranged from her, he took his family and moved away from New Orleans.
In 1837, Father Etienne Rousselon secured formal recognition of the new order from the Vatican. In 1842, the order changed its name to the Sisters of the Holy Family.
Henriette DeLille continued a life of service to the poor of New Orleans. She died in 1862. Friends attributed her death to a life of service, poverty, and hard work.
At the time of her death, there were 12 members of the order.
By 1909, it had grown to 150 members, and operated parochial schools in New Orleans that served 1,300 students.
By 1950, membership peaked at 400.
[edit] The order today
The Sisters of the Holy Family remain active today, with over 200 members who serve the poor by operating free schools for children, nursing homes, and retirement homes in New Orleans, Shreveport, Louisiana, Washington, D.C, Galveston, Texas, Little Rock, Arkansas, California, and the Central American country of Belize.
Hurricane Katrina in 2005 appears to have shut down the New Orleans operations of the order, and members formerly based in New Orleans are serving in other areas of the country.
[edit] Movie
In 2001, The Lifetime Cable Channel premiered a movie based on the life of Henriette DeLille, The Courage to Love, which starred Vanessa L. Williams.
[edit] Facts about Henriette Delille
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- Henriette Delille is the first U.S. native born African American whose cause for canonization has been officially opened by the Catholic Church.
- She was born in New Orleans in 1812, a free woman of color.
- By 1836, she had inspired a small band of women to assist the sick and dying and to catechize the uninstructed among her people.
- By 1841, this group of pious women was both encouraged and recognized by the church.
- The Sisters of the Holy Family trace their official origin to 1842.
- By 1851, Henriette had personally purchased a home where these women could live in community and further their ministry.
- At her death in 1862, Henriette Delille was known as one "who for the love of Jesus Christ had made herself the humble servant of slaves."
- The simple prayer that guided her life is: "I believe in God. I hope in God. I love God. I want to live and die for God."
