Henriette Delille was born, a "free woman of color" in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1812. Her father was a white man of French descent. Henriette founded the Sisters of the Holy Family, a Black religious congregation, to care for the slaves, free people of color, elderly, infirmed and poor, catechizing and providing for their physical needs. She worked heroically to bring people to God through reform, peaceful direction, and missionary work until her death at 52. She is the first United States native-born African American whose cause for canonization has been opened by the Catholic Church.
