SAMUELS: Meet Servant of God Julia Greeley who's on the way to sainthood

Servant of God Julia Greeley (CNS photo/iconographer Vivian Imbruglia, courtesy Archdiocese of Denver)This past September, I attended a conference for Black Catholic Administrators held in Denver, Colorado. As part of the conference, we were given a tour of Denver, which included visits to the Mother Cabrini Shrine, dedicated to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, and the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. At the conclusion of the tour, we had a prayer service at the cathedral near the relics of Servant of God, Julia Greeley. As we continue the celebration of Black History Month, it is important to acknowledge one of the six African American Catholics on their way to sainthood.

Julia Greeley, Denver’s Angel of Charity, was born into slavery near Hannibal, Missouri, between 1833 and 1848. Freed by Missouri’s Emancipation Act in 1865, Greeley subsequently earned her livelihood by serving families in Missouri, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico. However, most of her work and charity mission were in the Denver area. 

Greeley entered the Catholic Church at Sacred Heart Parish in Denver in 1880 and was an outstanding supporter of the parish. The Jesuits who ran the parish considered her the most enthusiastic promoter of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus they had ever seen. As a daily communicant, Greeley had a rich devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin and continued her prayers while continuing her work of charity. 

As part of her one-person mission, Greeley spent her time assisting poor families in her neighborhood. When her own resources were inadequate, she begged for food, fuel and clothing. One writer of Church history would later call her a “one-person St. Vincent de Paul Society.” To avoid embarrassing the people she helped, Greeley did most of her charitable work under the cover of night. Every month, she visited on foot every fire station in Denver and delivered Church literature to the firemen, Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

Greeley professed in the Third Order of St. Francis at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in 1901. According to Church historians, she continued her charitable work at an astonishing degree, especially for a single African American woman at this time.

On June 7, 1918, while on the way to Sacred Heart for Mass, Greeley became ill and was taken to St. Joseph Hospital and died. She was buried in the Church of her Baptism.
For nearly a century, the faithful Catholics of Colorado asked that Greeley’s cause of canonization be considered, a request which was finally granted in the fall of 2016.

On June 7, 2017, Greeley’s mortal remains were transferred to the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, where Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez received them in a solemn ceremony. The remains of Greeley were placed in a red heart wood funerary chest, which was permanently placed in the northwest corner of the transept, where the faithful may now privately pray for her intercession. 

Father Reginald Samuels is the vicar for the Ministry for Catholics of African Descent and pastor of St. Laurence Catholic Church in Sugar Land.