Cuba ’ s Ties to a Black Religious Order in Baltimore
Soon after Elizabeth Lange , an immigrant from Cuba , arrived in Baltimore in 1813 , she opened a school for the children of other immigrants . A devoutly religious woman , Lange joined with Maria Balas , her best friend , to create a religious congregation that eventually became the Oblate Sisters of Providence , the first Catholic religious order of women of African descent .
The religious order is well-known in Baltimore for creating the St . Frances Academy , a school that has operated continuously in this city since its creation in 1828 . The following year , Lange took her first vows and assumed the name of Sister Mary . It was then that she became the first superior general of the Oblate Sisters of Providence – the Catholic Church ’ s first order of Black nuns .
These Black nuns dedicated themselves to the education of young Black women , especially in Cuba where they opened several schools at the beginning of the 20th century . They operated schools in Havana , Matanzas , Camaguey , Santiago de Cuba and Las Villas , Cuba for more than 50 years .
The schools educated thousands of young Black Cuban women before they closed in the early 1960s .
In June , 2023 , Pope Francis declared Mary Elizabeth Lange to be “ venerable ,” which affirms that she lived “ a life of heroic virtues . This papal decree leaves Lange just one step short of becoming the first Black nun to obtain sainthood for her work with a religious order based in the United States . n
The Oblate Sisters of Providence
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