Capuchin Franciscans video screengrab / YouTube
The Capuchin Franciscans of Denver have released a free 13-minute documentary highlighting the life of American Servant of God Julia Greeley, known as “Denver’s Angel of Charity.”
According to the Julia Greeley Guild, Greeley was born into slavery in Missouri sometime between 1833 and 1848 and was emancipated in 1865. During her time as a slave, her right eye was destroyed by a whip that the slave master was using to beat her mother.
After her emancipation, she worked as a servant in Missouri, Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico, but spent much of her life in Denver. Moved by the poverty of families she saw around her, she began assisting them with food, fuel, and clothing, often doing her charitable work at night to avoid embarrassing those she helped. According to her guild, a writer later called her a “one-person St. Vincent de Paul Society.”
She became Catholic in 1880 at Sacred Heart Parish in Denver, where her devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus grew. Her guild noted that she would visit fire stations in Denver every month in order to deliver literature from the Sacred Heart League to the firefighters, while the Jesuits who ministered at the parish said they had never seen such an enthusiastic promoter of devotion to the Sacred Heart.
Greeley also had a deep devotion to the Eucharist and the Blessed Mother, becoming a daily communicant. She joined the Secular Franciscan Order in 1901.
Greeley died in 1918 and was mourned by hundreds whose lives she had impacted. Her cause for canonization was opened in 2016. Several have reported miracles believed to have been brought about through her intercession, including cures from cancer, adoptions made possible, and other extraordinary events.
Released on the Feast of the Sacred Heart, the documentary is titled Julia Greeley: Servant of the Sacred Heart. It features Father Blaine Burkey, OFMCap., who wrote the book, In Secret Service of the Sacred Heart, which helped open Greeley’s cause for canonization.
Mary Leisring, president of the Julia Greeley Guild, Denver Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez, and others also share their insights into the life of “Denver’s Angel of Charity.”
