March 3  is the feast day of St. Katharine Drexel, who founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.

Frances Cabrini and Katharine Drexel were contemporaries.

On February 12, 1891, Drexel professed her first vows as a religious, dedicating herself to work among the American Indians and Afro-Americans in the western and southwestern United States. She took the name Mother Katharine, and joined by thirteen other women, soon established a religious congregation, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Mother Frances Cabrini had advised Drexel about the “politics” of getting her new Order’s Rule approved by the Vatican bureaucracy in Rome.^[5] A few months later, PhiladelphiaArchbishop Ryan blessed the cornerstone of the new motherhouse under construction in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.

At the Motherhouse of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in Bensalem, PA, there is a bench in a parlor upon which Mother Cabrini and Mother Katharine sat to discuss the need for Mother Katharine to travel to Rome to see about getting her Order’s Rule approved.   It was at Mother Cabrini’s insistence that Mother Katharine travel to Italy and wait there until the Rule was approved.  The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament enjoy sharing this insight and remain grateful to Mother Cabrini for her sage advice.