In 1836, when Henriette was 24 years old, she had a religious experience that inspired her to draw up the rules and regulations for “a certain group of pious women founded for the purpose of nursing the sick, caring for the poor and instructing the ignorant.” That same year, along with her friends Juliette and Josephine Charles, they formed the Congregation of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary – the first confraternity for women of color in New

Orleans.

​

On November 21, 1842, the congregation was established as the Sisters of the Holy Family. They used the post-nominal letters S.S.F., which stood for Soeurs de la Sainte Famille. The order founded the Old Folks Home on Saint Bernard Street in New Orleans that year, where the sisters took in old, sick people when they began living in religious community. Once established, the order began as a diocesan congregation and was assisted by Marie Jeanne Aliquot, a Catholic French woman who came to New Orleans in the 1820s to serve the black community. She met Henriette and Juliette at St. Mary’s Church during regular morning Masses and became a trusted friend of the sisters until her death.

​

Throughout their ministry, the sisters faced many obstacles in carrying out their mission to help slaves and those in need – including having only three members. Because of this, free women and men of color came together to create the Association of the Holy Family in 1847 to provide moral and financial support for the sisters. The organization helped to build a new home for the elderly, sick and the poor called Hospice of the Holy Family. Now known as Lafon Nursing Facility, it is the first and oldest Catholic nursing home in the United States.

​

On October 15, 1852, Henriette, Juliette and Josephine pronounced their first public vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in the presence of their pastor, Fr. Etiennne Rousselon in St. Augustine Church. That same year, the sisters began wearing black percale gowns to formally signify their consecrated life. They began wearing habits in the late 1870s or early 1880s.

 

The early work of the Sisters of the Holy Family mostly took place in Treme, known as America’s oldest black neighborhood in New Orleans. It was here that black people could obtain their freedom and own property.

​

The sisters ministered to the poor in the area as administrators, teachers, pastoral personnel, housing managers and catechists. They encouraged slaves to become part of the Catholic faith through the sacraments.

​

Henriette dedicated her life to caring for the sick, dying, orphaned, slave and free until her death on November 17, 1862. She was 50 years old. She is buried in St. Louis Cemetery in New Orleans along with many of her religious sisters.

​

After caring for children left homeless after a devastating yellow fever epidemic in 1853, the Sisters of the Holy Family opened St. John Berchmans’ Orphanage in 1892. When Mother Austin Jones purchased 123 acres of land in the Gentilly area of New Orleans in 1906, the sisters were able to extend their ministry to form St. Mary’s Academy, St. Paul the Apostle Church and School, the House of the Holy Family, Delille Inn, Lafon Day Care Center, Lafon Nursing Facility of the Holy Family and the congregation’s present Motherhouse.

​

Two delegates from the Sisters of the Holy Family were present for the first National Black Sisters Conference (NBSC) in 1968. In later years, the order was more engaged, led by Sister Sylvia Thibodeaux SSF. She led a larger delegation to the second NBSC and permitted NBSC to host a board meeting at their motherhouse in New Orleans. Members of the order have been active in NBSC throughout its more than 50 years of ministry to share the Catholic faith, promote positive images of black people and speak out against moral injustice.

​

Today, the sisters continue to support Lafon Nursing Facility and two apartment complexes for low-income senior citizens – Delille Inn and St. John Berchmans Manor. They also support and teach students at St. John Berchmans Early Childhood Development Center and St. Mary’s Academy, work in prison ministry, and promote social justice. Their mission to care for the youth, elderly, and needy of society has taken them throughout the United States, Central America, and West Africa.

​

The cause for the canonization for Henriette Dellile was opened in 1988. She was declared venerable by Pope Benedict XVI on March 27, 2010. Henriette is the first native-born African American to be on the path to sainthood.

 

For more information on the Sisters of the Holy Family, visit sistersoftheholyfamily.com.