- Julia Greeley

Julia Greeley: Her Charity Knew No Bounds

In 2006 ENDOW began to honor a women exemplifying the feminine genius. As our model, we have selected Julia Greeley. To learn more about this exceptional woman, please see the biography by Michael Scott Woodward below.

Black missionary of the Sacred Heart. Born into slavery in Hannibal, Missouri about 1840, Julia Greeley came to be revered as a saint at her death in Denver, CO on June 7, 1918. The Denver Post commemorated her passing with the headline: "Body of Faithful Servant of Late Governor Gilpin Lies in State in Church of Sacred Heart." Blazoned across the Denver Catholic Register were the words: "Highest Honor Ever Paid to Dead Laic Here Goes to Negress: Miss Julia Greeley, Former Slave, Most Wonderful Apostle of the Sacred Heart." Subheadings continued: "Years of Heroic Piety Bring Old Colored Woman Privilege of Dying on Her Loved Patron's Feast Day. Body Lies in State before Altar while Throngs Pay Her Honor. Her Charity Knew No Bounds." With scarcely any resources of her own, Miss Greeley had personally helped thousands of the poor, both black and white.

Unable to read or write, and uncertain of her own date of birth, Miss Greeley must have been about twenty-five years old when she gained her freedom at the end of the Civil War. At the time she was in the household of John and Julia Pratte Dickerson of St. Louis, serving as nursemaid to their four children. After Mr. Dickerson's death, the widow married Major William Gilpin, who had served as Colorado's first territorial governor 1861-62, and Miss Greeley accompanied the family in their move to Denver in 1874. Miss Greeley never married, and after Mrs. Gilpin died in 1912 she became nursemaid to Marjorie Ann Urquhart. The mother, Agnes Rooney Urquhart, reported that Miss Greeley had predicted the birth of a "lil girl chile" even though Mrs. Urquhart's doctor declared her unable to conceive. Miss Greeley also worked as a housemaid and cook at various rectories and private homes. She carried a handkerchief to dab away discharge from a bad eye, blinded in her childhood, it was said, from a master's whip.

Miss Greeley entered the Catholic Church in 1880, receiving conditional Baptism at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church and became very devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She was known to walk miles a day, distributing Sacred Heart magazines, leaflets, medals and rosaries. In 1901 she was professed into the Third Order of St. Francis, taking the name Elizabeth. Miss Greeley collected money, food and necessities for the poor. As a special ministry, she gathered dresses from the well-to-do and gave them to poor girls so they could attend social events. She gave away everything that came her way, even donating her own burial plot to a man without resources at his death. Miss Greeley took suddenly ill as she was walking to Mass on the Feast of the Sacred Heart and died later that day. Several miracles attributed to Julia Greeley's intercession soon followed, including a recovery from cancer witnessed by Denver physician Martin Currigan.

Bibliography: Pacificus Kennedy, "Old Black Julia," Friar, December, 1974, 12-19. Denver Catholic Register, June 13, 1918, 1, 6.