Archbishop Lori to celebrate prayer service in support of sainthood for Mother Mary Lange

Archbishop William E. Lori and Auxiliary Bishop Denis J. Madden will celebrate a virtual prayer-and-praise event Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. to mark November as National Black Catholic History Month.

The service will be based at St. Ambrose in Northwest Baltimore but the faithful can watch online on the archdiocese’s website and its Facebook page.

The prayer service will support the cause for the canonization of Mother Mary Lange, a pioneering Baltimore Catholic.

If canonized, Mother Lange, the founder of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, would become the first Black American saint. Mother Lange immigrated to Baltimore in the early 19th century and opened a school for Black children in her small home in Baltimore’s Fells Point section.

Eventually, Mother Lange founded the Oblate Sisters of Providence — the first religious order for women of African descent in the U.S. — and would operate what would later become St. Frances Academy. Mother Lange and the Oblate Sisters provided Catholic education to Black children in Baltimore despite the prevailing racism of the time.

After meeting with Vatican officials last December, Archbishop Lori met said that Mother Lange’s cause, which began in 1991, was making progress.

The archbishop said Xaverian Brother Reginald Cruz had completed writing his official position paper, or “positio,” on her life and holiness. Once published, the Congregation for Saints’ Causes will evaluate the document, and if approved, the “positio” will be forwarded to the pope, who could grant Mother Lange the title of “venerable,” declaring her heroic virtues.

The archdiocese will name its first new city school in nearly 60 years after Mother Lange. Despite the disruption of the pandemic, construction has continued on the building along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard just west of downtown Baltimore. The school is set to open with nearly 500 students from across the city next September.

National Black Catholic History Month honors the rich contributions of Black Catholics in the United States. In addition to Mother Mary Lange, Baltimore is home to St. Francis Xavier Church, which in 1791 became the first Catholic church in the U.S. specifically for people of color. The Josephites, a religious society of priests and brothers who minister to the African-American community, were also founded and remain headquartered in Baltimore.

For more information about Black Catholic History Month in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and to watch the livestream, visit www.archbalt.org/bchm.

Email Tim Swift at tswift@CatholicReview.org

UPDATE: This story was updated Oct. 29 to correct the name of the first African-American parish in the United States, which is St. Francis Xavier in East Baltimore.

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