Dr. Camille Brown Privette wants her life to be a life of sanctity, like that of Mother Mary Lange, foundress of the Baltimore-based Oblate Sisters of Providence, whose cause for canonization is under consideration.
“She’s worthy of being called a saint,” Privette said. “We need thousands of other people saying the same thing.”
Privette serves as president of the Mother Mary Lange Guild, which works with the Oblate Sisters of Providence toward the canonization cause. She is also an associate superintendent in the archdiocesan Department of Catholic Schools.
Mother Lange, a native of Santiago de Cuba (born c. 1784) who lived in Haiti before coming to Baltimore as a French-speaking immigrant, not only founded the Oblate Sisters, the first religious order in the U.S. for women of color, but also established the first Catholic school for children of color.
“She was an extremely brave woman. She had so many strikes against her: she was a woman of color in a slave state, she founded a religious community for women of African descent who were not welcomed anywhere else, and then she was also a Catholic woman” who spoke very limited English, Privette said.
“To educate children of color was extremely brave,” she said.
Mother Lange died Feb. 3, 1882, two decades after the Emancipation Proclamation but eight decades before the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. Privette said some at the Vatican asked why it took so long for her canonization cause to be started in the 1990s.
“You know, in 1882 we were not too long out of slavery, not too long out of the Reconstruction, great migration of people of color all over the country,” she said. “That wasn’t a good time to get the U.S. Catholic bishops to back a Black person’s cause (for sainthood).”
Therefore, in the 1990s, when Cardinal William H. Keeler first began the process, Privette wrote a six-page historical document about the history of African Americans from slavery through the Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act and other changes. That document and other materials helped provide some context for the people at the Congregation for Saints Causes at the Vatican.
The “positio” – the official document about Mother Lange’s life – was submitted to the congregation. The historical part of the positio was accepted rather quickly, but the commission considering the theological part was suspended for a time due to COVID-19 concerns. The commission has since reconvened and has asked Archbishop William E. Lori if he supports the cause, which he does, often checking with the Congregation for Saints Causes on the status whenever he is in Rome.
Though some canonization causes take time, “I wish it were going much faster,” the archbishop said. “I’m certainly working with Sister Rita Michelle Proctor (Oblate superior general) and the Oblates to find ways we can accelerate that. Canonization processes do take a while, some of them centuries.”
He remains hopeful. “I think we should all pray earnestly for her beatification and eventual canonization. The more I learn and have learned about Mother Lange, the more I’m convinced she is absolutely worthy.”
Privette hopes that the full positio will be approved soon so that it can be passed to Pope Francis with the request that Servant of God Mother Lange be proclaimed “venerable.” After that, the typical canonization process requires one miracle attributed to her intercession for beatification, and another for canonization.
As president of the guild, Privette is the “keeper” of information about alleged miracles attributed to Mother Lange.
“We are processing miracles as they come in,” she said. “We need as many people as possible praying to Mother Lange the beatification prayer” which can be found at the website MotherLange.org.
The “cult of Mother Lange,” the canonical term for followers and devotees of a potential saint – is active in 16 countries, including several in Africa. When Privette went to Tanzania in 2014 to do missionary work with the Capuchin Franciscan priests there, she introduced the beatification prayer. When she returned in 2016 and 2019, they were still praying for Mother Lange’s beatification. Similar activity is ongoing in Uganda and other areas.
The Oblates and the Mother Lange Guild will mark the 140th anniversary of her death with a Mass Feb. 5, 2 p.m., at the Oblates Motherhouse. Due to COVID restrictions, the Mass will not be open to the public, but will be livestreamed.
Those interested in learning more about Mother Lange can visit the website, which features a new five-minute video with a quick history of her life. The site also provides an opportunity to contribute to the costs involved with the cause. The guild hopes to eventually produce a full-length documentary about Mother Lange.
Privette highlighted the new Mother Mary Lange Catholic School that opened in 2021 in Baltimore, which features images of the potential saint and sayings from her throughout the building. The exposition of the students to the school’s namesake shows they can live a life like Mother Lange. “It is fabulous to know that we have some new groups of young believers praying to Mother Lange and understanding her life,” Privette said. “Wherever they worship, wherever they live, they can be good people.”
Email Christopher Gunty at editor@CatholicReview.org
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