Approval of Miracle Clears Way to Beatification : Socialite Nun Moves a Step Closer to Sainthood

A Vatican commission today approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Mother Katharine Drexel, clearing the way for her beatification by Pope John Paul II.

Father Paul Molinari, the postulator or presenter of Mother’s Drexel’s cause, said the miracle was approved unanimously by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

“The next step is for the Pope to make the decision final and set a date for the beatification, possibly in the fall,” he said in a telephone interview.

Beatification is a step toward possible sainthood, which would require confirmation of a second miracle attributed to her intercession.

Mother Drexel, a member of a wealthy Philadelphia banking family, founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in 1891 to work among blacks and American Indians. She lived on less than a dollar a day, but gave an estimated $20 million to further her order’s work before her death in 1955 at 96.

The miracle attributed to her involved the healing in 1974 of Robert J. Gutherman, who had lost hearing in his right ear from an infection. He regained his hearing after his family and members of the order prayed for Mother Drexel’s intervention.