Ekaterina Fyodorovna Kolyschkine de Hueck Doherty (August 15, 1896 – December 14, 1985) was a Russian-Canadian

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

baroness, social worker, racial justice activist, and founder of

Friendship House Friendship House was a missionary movement founded in the early 1930s by Catholic social justice activist Catherine de Hueck Doherty, one of the leading proponents of interracial justice in the period prior to the mid-20th-century civil rights m ...

and

Madonna House Apostolate The Madonna House Apostolate is a Catholic Christian community of lay men, women, and priests dedicated to loving and serving Jesus Christ in all aspects of everyday life. It was founded in 1947 by Catherine Doherty in Combermere, Ontario, and ha ...

. A pioneer of

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

and a renowned national speaker, Doherty was also a prolific writer of hundreds of articles, best-selling author of dozens of books, and a dedicated wife and mother. Her cause for

canonization Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of ...

as a

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

is under consideration by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

.Catherine Doherty: Her Life
catherinedoherty.org

Biography

Doherty was born Ekaterina Fyodorovna Kolyschkine (Екатерина Фёдоровна Колышкина) in

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. Her parents, Fyodor and Emma Thomson Kolyschkine, belonged to the minor

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

and were devout members of the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

who had their child baptized in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

on September 15, 1896. She was not baptized on the same day that she was born because her mother was worried she might get a disease as she had been born on a train. Schooled abroad due to her father's job, she had exposure to the

through her schooling in Alexandria, Egypt, where her father, an aristocrat, had been posted by the government.Murray PP, John, "Servant of God: Catherine de Hueck Doherty", ''The Messenger'', July 2007
/ref> Her family returned to St. Petersburg in 1910, where she was enrolled in the prestigious Princess Obolensky Academy. In 1912, aged 15, she married her first cousin, Boris de Hueck (1889–1947). At the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Catherine de Hueck became a

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

nurse at the front, experiencing the horrors of battle firsthand. On her return to St. Petersburg, she and Boris barely escaped the turmoil of the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

with their lives, nearly starving to death as refugees in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Together they made their way to England, where de Hueck was received into the Catholic Church on November 27, 1919. Emigrating to Canada with Boris, de Hueck gave birth to their only child, George, in Toronto in 1921. To make ends meet, she took various jobs, eventually traveling across the United States, giving talks on the

Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua bro ...

lecture circuit.Fay, Terence J., ''History of Canadian Catholics'', McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 2002

Friendship House

Prosperous now, but deeply dissatisfied with a life of material comfort, her marriage in ruins, de Hueck began to feel the promptings of a deeper call through a passage that leaped to her eyes every time she opened the Bible: "Arise — go... sell all you possess... take up your cross and follow Me." Consulting with various priests and the bishop of the

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

, she began her lay apostolate among the poor. In 1932, she gave up all her possessions, lived among the multitude of poor people in downtown Toronto and established Friendship House with its soup kitchen. She gave food to them when she had none for herself – and offered Catholic education and fellowship, too. She was tagged as a communist sympathizer and, beleaguered by her own organization, Friendship House was forced to close in 1936. Catherine then went to Europe and spent a year investigating

Catholic Action Catholic Action is the name of groups of lay Catholics who advocate for increased Catholic influence on society. They were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic countries under anti-clerical regimes such as Spain, Ita ...

. On her return, she established the Friendship House at 34 West 135th Street in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

in 1937. The interracial charity center, in addition to distributing goods to the poor, conducted lectures and discussions to promote racial understanding. In 1943, having received an

annulment Annulment is a legal procedure within Law, secular and Religious law, religious legal systems for declaring a marriage Void (law), null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually ex post facto law, retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is c ...

of her first marriage—as she had married her cousin, which is forbidden in the Catholic Church—she married

Eddie Doherty Edward J. "Eddie" Doherty (October 30, 1890 – May 4, 1975) was an American newspaper reporter, author and Oscar-nominated screenwriter. He is the co-founder of the Madonna House Apostolate, and later ordained a priest in the Melkite Greek ...

, an American journalist, whom she had met when he was writing a story about her.

Madonna House

Serious disagreements arose between the staff of Friendship House and its foundress, particularly surrounding her marriage. When these could not be resolved, Doherty and Eddie moved to

Combermere, Ontario Combermere is a village along the Madawaska River (Ontario), Madawaska River in south-eastern Ontario, Canada. It is part of Madawaska Valley, Ontario, Township of Madawaska Valley. It is named after Sir Stapleton Cotton, Viscount Combermere (177 ...

, on May 17, 1947 to retire. As she recovered, she started to serve the needs of the community. What eventually blossomed was a new rural apostolate called Madonna House that now numbers approximately 200 staff workers with 17 missionary field-houses throughout the world.

Death

Catherine de Hueck Doherty died in Combermere, on December 14, 1985, at the age of 89. Since then, the cause for her

as a saint has been officially opened in the Catholic Church.

Spirituality

"I considered Nazareth to be the center of my vocation. Only by being hidden would I be a light to my neighbor’s feet in the slums," Doherty wrote. She believed that activism should be rooted in prayer and that faith should be brought to every aspect of daily life.

"The Little Mandate"

The core of Doherty's spirituality is summarized in a "distillation" of the Gospel which she called "The Little Mandate" — words which she believed she received from

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

and which guided her life. It reads: The spirituality expressed in The Little Mandate is also known as "the Madonna House way of life".

Duty of the moment

A central theme in Doherty's spirituality is "the duty of the moment". As she herself put it:

The duty of the moment is what you should be doing at any given time, in whatever place God has put you. You may not have Christ in a homeless person at your door, but you may have a little child. If you have a child, your duty of the moment may be to change a dirty diaper. So you do it. But you don't just change that diaper, you change it to the best of your ability, with great love for both God and that child.... There are all kinds of good Catholic things you can do, but whatever they are, you have to realize that there is always the duty of the moment to be done. And it must be done, because the duty of the moment is the duty of God.

Poustinia

Doherty is perhaps best known for having introduced the concept of

poustinia A hermitage most authentically refers to a place where a hermit lives in seclusion from the world, or a building or settlement where a person or a group of people lived religiously, in seclusion. Particularly as a name or part of the name of prop ...

to Roman Catholicism through her best-selling book ''Poustinia'', first published in 1975. A poustinia is a small sparsely furnished cabin or room where a person goes to

pray Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified an ...

and fast alone in the presence of

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

for 24 hours.

Notable awards

Cross of St. George The Cross of Saint George (russian: Георгиевский крест, Georgiyevskiy krest) is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was initially established by Imperial Russia where it was officially known as the Decoration of ...

, for bravery on the Russian Front *

Order of St. Anna The Imperial Order of Saint Anna (russian: Орден Святой Анны; also "Order of Saint Anne" or "Order of Saint Ann") was a Holstein ducal and then Russian imperial order of chivalry. It was established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holst ...

, for continuing in the line of duty under attack * ''

Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice ''Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice'' ("For Church and Pope" in Latin) is a decoration of the Holy See. It is currently conferred for distinguished service to the Catholic Church by lay people and clergy. History The medal was established by Leo XIII o ...

'', Papal decoration medal, awarded by

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

for "exceptional and outstanding work for the Church and for the Pope", 1960 * Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

, "for a lifetime of devoted services to the underprivileged of many nationalities, both in Canada and abroad", 1976. In July 2008, the

returned Doherty's Order of Canada insignia to

Rideau Hall Rideau Hall (officially Government House) is the official residence in Ottawa of both the Canadian monarch and their representative, the governor general of Canada. It stands in Canada's capital on a estate at 1 Sussex Drive, with the main b ...

as a symbolic gesture of protest over the induction of

Henry Morgentaler Henekh "Henry" Morgentaler, (March 19, 1923 – May 29, 2013), was a Polish-born Canadian physician and abortion rights advocate who fought numerous legal battles aimed at expanding abortion rights in Canada. As a Jewish youth during World War ...

into the order. * Dame of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem *

Jules Favre Jules Claude Gabriel Favre (21 March 1809 – 20 January 1880) was a French statesman and lawyer. After the establishment of the Third Republic in September 1870, he became one of the leaders of the Opportunist Republicans in the National Assem ...

Foundation Award,

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

* Woman of the Year, World Union of Catholic Women's Organizations, Rome * International

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

Society * Poverello Medal,

Franciscan University of Steubenville Franciscan University of Steubenville is a private Franciscan university in Steubenville, Ohio. The university had 3,040 students as of fall 2019, including 2,317 students on campus, in 40 undergraduate and 8 graduate degree programs. The studen ...

Cause for canonization

Doherty's cause for

as a saint was opened by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in 2000, and she has been given the official title

Servant of God "Servant of God" is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression "servant of God" appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in th ...

— the first step on the way to being declared

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cathol ...

, then

Blessed Blessed may refer to: * The state of having received a blessing * Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified Film and television * ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatural ...

, and finally

Saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

. At the current stage in the process, a diocesan tribunal, as well as a historical commission, are examining Doherty's life and writings under the supervision of the bishop of the Diocese of Pembroke.

References

External links

Catherine Doherty's Cause for CanonizationMadonna House ApostolateBooks by Catherine Doherty
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doherty, Catherine 1896 births 1985 deaths 19th-century venerated Christians 20th-century venerated Christians Activists for African-American civil rights Canadian activists Canadian anti-poverty activists Canadian Christian pacifists Canadian civil rights activists Canadian Eastern Catholics Canadian hermits Canadian Roman Catholic theologians Canadian Servants of God Canadian spiritual writers Canadian women non-fiction writers Catholic pacifists Catholic social teaching Converts to Eastern Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy Eastern Catholic Servants of God Eastern Catholic writers Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Canada Former Russian Orthodox Christians Founders of Catholic religious communities Leaders of Christian parachurch organizations Members of the Order of Canada People from Renfrew County Roman Catholic activists Roman Catholic writers Russian Eastern Catholics Russian hermits Russian untitled nobility White movement people White Russian emigrants to Canada Women civil rights activists