Venerable Mother Henriette Delille

1812-1862

Artwork courtesy of the National Black Catholic Congress

Life and Witness to Racial Justice:

Venerable Mother Henriette Delille, SSF, was born in 1812 in New Orleans, Louisiana, a free woman of African descent in a society shaped by racial caste and colonial legacy. Her life stands as a profound testimony to faith, resistance, and the enduring struggle for dignity in the face of systemic injustice.

Henriette descended from a matrilineal line of Catholic women whose faith endured through enslavement and emancipation. Her great-great-grandmother was enslaved and brought from Africa to Louisiana, yet she secured freedom for herself, her children, and grandchildren.

Raised within the oppressive plaçage system—a social structure that commodified women of color—Henriette rejected the path laid before her. Her confirmation marked a spiritual turning point, and in her prayer book she wrote with conviction: “I want to live and die for God.” This declaration was not only personal—it was prophetic.

Henriette experienced a call to religious life at a time when no Catholic religious orders would accept women of color. Rather than abandoning her vocation, she founded her own: The Sisters of the Holy Family in 1842. This act was a response to exclusion, creating a sacred space where Black women could serve, teach, and minister with dignity.

Her mission was rooted in social and racial justice. She and her sisters cared for the poor, the sick, the elderly, and especially those who were vulnerable.

Mother Delille’s life calls the Church today to deeper conversion: to recognize the sanctity of Black lives, to honor the faith of Black women, and to build communities of reconciliation where justice and mercy meet.