View source for Mary Elizabeth Lange

{{short description|American religious sister (c.1789–1882)}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix= [[Venerable]]
|name = Mary Elizabeth Lange 
|honorific_suffix = [[Oblate Sisters of Providence|OSP]]
|image = Mother Mary Lange.jpg
|birth_name = Elizabeth Clarisse Lange
|birth_date = {{c.|1789}}<ref name=mwhf>[https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshall/html/lange.html "Mary Elizabeth Lange", Maryland Women's Hall of Fame]</ref> 
|birth_place = [[Saint-Domingue]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|1882|2|3|1789}}
|death_place = [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], United States
}}
{{Black Catholicism sidebar}}
'''Mary Elizabeth Lange''', [[Oblate Sisters of Providence|OSP]] (born '''Elizabeth Clarisse Lange'''; {{c.|1789}} – February 3, 1882) was an American [[religious sister]] in [[Baltimore, Maryland]] who founded the [[Oblate Sisters of Providence]] in 1829, the first [[African Americans|African-American]] [[religious congregation]] in the United States. She was also, via the Oblates, the first African-American [[Superior general (Christianity)|superior general]].

The cause for her [[beatification]] was opened in 1991. [[Pope Francis]] named her as [[venerable]] on June 22, 2023.

==Life==

===Early life===
Lange was born in [[Saint-Domingue]] about 1789. It is said that her mother, Annette Lange, was the daughter of a [[Jews|Jewish]] plantation owner and an enslaved African woman. Her father, Clovis, was said to be an enslaved [[Mulatto Haitians|mulatto]] man on the same plantation.

During the [[Haitian Revolution]], her parents escaped and took the family to Cuba, settling in [[Santiago de Cuba]]. There Lange received an excellent education. She left Cuba in the early 1800s and immigrated to the [[United States]]. 

According to oral tradition of the [[Oblate Sisters of Providence]], Lange landed in [[Charleston, South Carolina]]. She traveled next to [[Norfolk, Virginia]], and finally settled in [[Baltimore|Baltimore, Maryland]] by 1813. Baltimore had a large population of [[Free Negro|free people of color]], who already outnumbered the city's enslaved population. Among the free people were numerous French-speaking [[Afro-Caribbean people|Afro-Caribbean]] people who had also fled the revolution in [[Haiti]].<ref name="mwhf" />

In the early 1800s, various [[Protestantism|Protestant]] organizations in Baltimore, such as Sharp Street Methodist Episcopal Church's [[African Academy (Baltimore)|Free African School]] (1802), [[Daniel Coker]]'s Bethel Charity School ({{c.|1812}}), St. James Protestant Episcopal Day School (1824), and William Lively's Union Seminary (1825), created schools for African-American students. While providing a valuable service, they could not meet the demands of Baltimore's growing free African-American population. 

Lange recognized the need for education for African-American children and opened a school for them in her home in the [[Fells Point]] area of the city in 1818.<ref name="mwhf" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mother Lange |url=https://www.motherlange.org/mother-lange |access-date=2025-05-26 |website=www.motherlange.org}}</ref> Public education was not established for Black children in the city until 1866.

===Foundress===
In Baltimore, Lange met [[James Nicholas Joubert]], a [[Sulpician]] priest who was a native of France and a former soldier. Joubert had also fled the slave rebellion in Saint-Domingue. He was in charge of teaching [[catechism]] to the African-American children who attended the Lower Chapel at Saint Mary's Seminary. He found they had difficulty learning the catechism because they could not read very well, and thought it would be good to start a school for girls.<ref name=sfa>{{cite web |url=https://sfacademy.org/faith/oblate-sisters-of-providence/father-james-joubert-ss/ |title=Father James Joubert, SS |website=St. Francis Academy, Baltimore |date=29 March 2023 |access-date=12 April 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230412111039/https://sfacademy.org/faith/oblate-sisters-of-providence/father-james-joubert-ss/ |archive-date=12 April 2023}}</ref> 

After getting permission from the archbishop, he began looking for two women of color to serve as teachers. A friend suggested Lange and Marie Balas, since they were already operating a school in their home, which later became [[Saint Frances Academy (Baltimore)|Saint Frances Academy]]. It is still operating in Baltimore.<ref name="sfa" />  

Joubert also wanted to start a women's religious congregation to teach African-American children. He asked Lange and Balas if they would do so. They said they had felt called to consecrate their lives to God and had been waiting to be shown the way to serve. Joubert agreed to support the women and persuaded Archbishop [[James Whitfield (bishop)|James Whitfield]] to approve the new community. The Oblate Sisters of Providence were founded by Lange and Joubert as the first religious congregation of women of African descent in the United States. The order was established with the primary purpose of Catholic education for girls. 

On July 2, 1829, Lange and three other women (Balas, Mary Rosine Boegues, and an older student, [[Theresa Maxis Duchemin|Almeide Theresa Duchemin]]) took their first vows.<ref name=guild>{{cite web |url=http://motherlangeguild.homestead.com/history.html |title=The Cause of Canonization: Mother Mary Lange |website=Mother Lange Guild |access-date=12 April 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140824015518/http://motherlangeguild.homestead.com/history.html |archive-date=24 August 2014}}</ref> 

Lange took the name of "Sister Mary" and was appointed as the first superior general of the new community. The sisters adopted a religious habit of a black dress and cape with a white cap. They started in a rented house with four sisters and twenty students. While dealing with poverty, racism, and hardships, the Oblate Sisters sought to evangelize the Black community through Catholic education. In addition to schools, the sisters later conducted night classes for women, vocational and career training, and established homes for widows and orphans.

By 1832, the community had grown to eleven members. That year a [[cholera]] outbreak hit the city. While the community as a whole volunteered to risk their lives in nursing the epidemic's victims, only four were chosen, Lange and three companions.<ref name="CR">{{cite journal |last=Favors |first=Therese Wilson |date=October 18, 2012 |title=Keeping Watch |url=http://www.catholicreview.org/article/commentary/africentric/keeping-watch |journal=[[The Catholic Review]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225070733/https://catholicreview.org/article/commentary/africentric/keeping-watch |archive-date=2017-02-25}}</ref>

Sister Frances died in the mid-1840s. Lange took her place working as a domestic at [[St. Mary's Seminary and University|St. Mary's Seminary]] in the city to help support her community. In 1850 she was also appointed to serve the congregation as [[master of novices|Mistress of novices]], a position in which she served for the next ten years.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://motherlangeguild.homestead.com/index.html |work = Mother Lange Guild |title = About Mother Lange}}</ref>

Lange died on February 3, 1882, and was buried in the Cathedral Cemetery. Her remains were transferred to [[New Cathedral Cemetery]] on February 6, 1882.

==Legacy==
[[file:Mother Mary Lange Catholic School Grand Opening (51361420948).jpg|thumb|Mother Mary Lange Catholic School]]
Lange's legacy of the Oblate Sisters of Providence has thrived over the years in the United States and in several foreign countries.

Lange was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame in 1991 for the [[St. Frances Academy (Baltimore, Maryland)|St. Frances Academy]] which she founded.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stegmana |first=Carolyn B. |title=Women of Achievement in Maryland History |publisher=Women of Achievement |year=2002 |isbn=0972436200 |location=Maryland |pages=71}}</ref>

In 2005, three Baltimore parochial schools (St. Dominic School, Shrine of the Little Flower, and St. Anthony of Padua) were combined into Mother Mary Lange Catholic School. This was the first school named after her in the United States. It has since closed. 

In 2008, the community celebrated the 180th anniversary of St. Frances Academy.

In August 2021, a new Mother Mary Lange Catholic School was opened; it was first new Catholic school in Baltimore in nearly six decades. Alisha Jordan was the founding principal.<ref>{{Citation|last=GovPics|first=Maryland|title=Mother Mary Lange Catholic School Grand Opening|date=2021-08-06|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/mdgovpics/51361405658/|access-date=2021-09-13}}</ref>

A three-part Spanish-language documentary, ''Hermanas de Corazon'' (2021), created by Gloria Rolando, was made about Lange and the Oblates' work in Cuba.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2023-05-11 |title=Estrenarán documental "Hermanas de Corazón", de Gloria Rolando |url=http://www.acn.cu/cultura/108234-estrenaran-documental-hermanas-de-corazon-de-gloria-rolando |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=Agencia Cubana de Noticias |language=es-es |archive-date=2023-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531150832/http://www.acn.cu/cultura/108234-estrenaran-documental-hermanas-de-corazon-de-gloria-rolando |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Veneration ===
After Lange's death, many Catholics in Baltimore began to venerate her as a saint.

In 1991, with the approval of the [[Holy See]], [[cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]] [[William Henry Keeler]], [[Archbishop of Baltimore]], officially opened a formal investigation of Lange's life to study it for her possible [[canonization]]. She was titled [[Servant of God]], and her remains were exhumed and examined.

In 2004, documents describing Lange's life were sent to the Vatican's [[Dicastery for the Causes of Saints|Congregation for the Causes of Saints]].

On May 28, 2013, Lange's remains were exhumed and transferred to the Baltimore community of the Oblate Sisters, where she was reinterred in their chapel.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Mother Mary Lange's remains transferred to her congregation's mother church in Catonsville |language=en |work=tribunedigital-baltimoresun |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-xpm-2013-06-03-bs-md-mother-lange-20130603-story.html |access-date=2017-12-24}}</ref>

In 2023, the Vatican approved the {{lang|la|[[positio]]}} (the documentation of Lange's life), a key step in the process toward being declared "[[The Venerable|Venerable]]" by the Church, and possibly canonizing Lange.<ref>{{cite web |last=Liptak |first=Matthew |date=9 March 2023 |title=Vatican accepts 'positio' in Mother Lange's cause; Dicastery to review documents on her life |url=https://www.globalsistersreport.org/news/vatican-accepts-positio-mother-langes-cause-dicastery-review-documents-her-life |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230412111452/https://www.globalsistersreport.org/news/vatican-accepts-positio-mother-langes-cause-dicastery-review-documents-her-life |archive-date=12 April 2023 |access-date=12 April 2023 |website=Global Sisters Report}}</ref> Lange was declared venerable by Pope Francis on June 22, 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brockhaus |first=Hannah |date=June 22, 2023 |title=Mother Mary Lange, founder of first African-American religious congregation, declared venerable |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254635/mother-mary-lange-founder-of-first-african-american-religious-congregation-declared-venerable |access-date=2024-02-09 |website=Catholic News Agency |language=en}}</ref> The postulator of the cause is Waldery Hilgeman.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061030170723/http://www.nbccongress.org/spotlight/oblate-sisters-of-providence-01.asp National Black Catholic Congress bio & story]
*[http://www.catholicreview.org/article/home/mother-langes-relics-moved-to-motherhouse-as-sainthood-cause-advances Mother Lange’s relics moved to motherhouse as sainthood cause advances] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055639/http://www.catholicreview.org/article/home/mother-langes-relics-moved-to-motherhouse-as-sainthood-cause-advances |date=2016-03-04 }}
*{{Find a Grave|2288}}

{{Maryland Women's Hall of Fame}}
{{Canonization}}
{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= United States |portal4= Saints}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lange, Mary Elizabeth}}
[[Category:1789 births]]
[[Category:1882 deaths]]
[[Category:Haitian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Religious leaders from Baltimore]]
[[Category:Schoolteachers from Maryland]]
[[Category:19th-century American women educators]]
[[Category:19th-century American educators]]
[[Category:Haitian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Founders of Catholic religious communities]]
[[Category:African-American Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns]]
[[Category:Venerated African-American Catholics]]
[[Category:African-American Catholic superiors general]]
[[Category:Oblate Sisters of Providence]]
[[Category:Venerated Catholics by Pope Francis]]
[[Category:19th-century African-American educators]]