CV NEWS FEED // CBS News’ 60 Minutes this week spotlighted a Catholic academy for young Black women in New Orleans that was inspired by an American sister on the way to being canonized a saint.
60 Minutes broadcast a video about the school, which was followed by an article titled “The inspiration for New Orleans’ St. Mary’s Academy,” published on May 5.
The Sisters of the Holy Family, inspired by the example of their foundress Venerable Henriette Delille, founded the academy in 1867.
“Born in 1812, Henriette Delille was a Creole nun who lived in New Orleans. Her father was a White Frenchman. Her mother was a free person of color, the great-granddaughter of a slave from West Africa,” CBS reported. “Delille, inspired by her Catholic faith and a desire to help others, taught slaves and free people of color, defying anti-literacy laws that punished those who tried to educate non-White people.”
Delille showed a love of the Faith and of teaching others, as a website dedicated to her sainthood says she catechized others even at a young age.
“Records show that Henriette served as godmother to many slave children and as witness to numerous marriages,” the website notes. Her community also especially prioritizes caring for the elderly and infirm.
Delille died in 1862 at age 49. Just five years later, “inspired by Delille’s vision for education, the sisters established St. Mary’s Academy with the express purpose of teaching young African American women,” CBS reported.
Pope Benedict XVI declared Delille “Venerable” in 2010, making her the first U.S.-born African American to be on the path to canonization.
St. Mary’s Academy, inspired deeply by her legacy, stands today as a thriving school that promotes Catholic values and academic excellence. The Sisters of the Holy Family still run the school, with the help of lay faculty as well. There is also a chaplain who celebrates Mass at the school once a month and offers the sacrament of Confession to students.
With the help of its strong academic resources, the school has continued to graduate exceptional students for many years.
“For the last 17 years, St. Mary’s Academy has had a 100% graduation rate and a 100% college admission rate,” CBS reported.
CBS correspondent Bill Whitaker interviewed two alumnae of St. Mary’s Academy: Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson.
Johnson and Jackson “made math history when they both independently proved the 2,000-year-old Pythagorean Theorem using trigonometry, an achievement that was once thought to be impossible,” CBS highlighted.
Johnson and Jackson graduated last year, receiving almost $3 million in scholarship offers, CBS reported. Jackson received a full-ride scholarship to Xavier University, and Johnson now attends Louisiana State University with a scholarship to study environmental engineering.
“I want to be an environmental engineer,” Johnson told Whitaker. “I want to be able to come back and help the New Orleans communities, since they helped raise me.”
St. Mary’s Academy Principal Pamela Rogers told Whitaker that teaching the students to care for their local community is a part of continuing Venerable Delille’s example.
“We continue to move forward with her vision,” Rogers said. “We teach young women to give service, to empower themselves, [and] to be in the community. We teach them to grow spiritually, intellectually…to be good people and give to one another.”
