Servant of God Mother Mary Lange
Elizabeth Lange was possibly born in Haiti around 1784 and would later move with her family to Cuba. She fled Cuba with her family during a revolution and eventually ended up in Baltimore, Maryland.
Around 1818 while in Baltimore, Elizabeth realized that there were many black children, often fellow refugees, in need of education (public school was not available for any children of color in Baltimore until 1866). She used her own money and home to educate these children of color. For ten years Elizabeth, along with a friend, Marie Magdaleine Balas, offered free education.
The local Catholic leaders took note of Elizabeth and her friend’s education service to the black children in Baltimore and took steps to further empower and support her cause. In 1828 they helped start the first Black Catholic School in America, St. Francis Academy (still in operation today). A year later, in 1829, Elizabeth and three friends took vows to create the first order of women of African descent, the Oblate Sisters of Providence.
“Providence will provide.”
Lange took the name of "Sister Mary" and became the first superior general of the new community. They started in a rented house with four sisters and twenty students. Today they have 85 sisters, 20 associates, and 16 guild members.
While experiencing poverty, racism, brief but drastic decline in enrollment, untold hardships, and a cholera outbreak in 1832, the Oblate Sisters sought to evangelize the Black community through Catholic education. In addition to schools, the sisters conducted night classes for women, vocational and career training, and established homes for widows and orphans. Lange died on February 3, 1882, after a life of service to the black community of Baltimore.
What struck you most from her story? Why?
Additional Resources:
Mother Mary Lange by Cause for Canonization for Mother Mary Lange
Hidden Figures: Mother Mary Lange (video) by BESE