By Christopher Young ,
Contributing Writer,
Born in Yazoo City on December 29, 1937, Mary Thea Bowman was the granddaughter of slaves and only child of physician Dr. Theon Bowman and teacher Mary Esther Bowman. She converted to Catholicism as a child – some sources say at 9 years old – through inspiration of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration and the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity who were her teachers and pastors at Holy Child Jesus Church and School in Canton, Mississippi.
Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA, taught at all grade levels, earned a doctorate, and became a professor of English and linguistics. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1984 and died March 30, 1990, at age 52.
On Saturday, December 21, 2024, at 11 a.m., a High Mass was held in her honor and the statue of Servant of God – Sister Thea Bowman was blessed by the Bishop of Jackson Mississippi, Most Reverend Joseph Kopacz, D.D., at the Cathedral of Saint Peter the Apostle, 123 N. West Street in Jackson.
The cathedral was filled to capacity. There were scores of priests, deacons and other religious in attendance, as well as large numbers of parishioners from Biloxi, Mississippi, Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama.
Readings from Zephaniah 3:14-18 and the Gospel of Luke 1:39-45 preceded the homily. Bishop Kopacz spoke about Jubilee 2025 beginning just days from now, and the opening of the doors of the church. He stressed the importance of this year’s theme, where all Christians are called to be Pilgrims of Hope. He noted that we could consider today’s occasion as also being a pilgrimage, appreciating people from all over our province – to see ourselves as pilgrims, and “We certainly know that Thea was a pilgrim of hope – A Servant of God.”
He shared that the cause for her sainthood began about six years ago before a meeting of the United States Conference of Bishops in Baltimore, Maryland, and provided the background that happened locally.
“Many of you know her story well…the star-struck child at the Holy Child School in Canton, Mississippi, into the heart of the Catholic Church, described by many religious as pure grace. Her prophetic spirit, brilliant mind, and boundless stamina inspired many and became a beacon for the church to embrace more authentically the essence of catholicity. Her suffering in the final years of her life from an incurable cancer united her to the cross of Our Lord Jesus…indeed ‘she lived until she died’ as she expressed that she would do.
“She was a gift from the time she stepped foot in Holy Child School right up to the time she addressed the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, at Seton Hall, back in 1989. She remains a gift for us in death, and in November 2018, at the plenary session of the bishops in Baltimore I was privileged to present Sister Thea’s Cause for Canonization that was unanimously accepted by acclimation.”
He compared the Zephaniah reading with “the harsh reality of the Jim Crow Era and exclusion did not dim Sister Thea’s spirit – she sang, she rejoiced and lifted her people and many others. She was prophetic and passionate about who she was as a religious, as a catholic, as a daughter of the Lord. In her own words, we know her passion – ‘what does it mean to be black and in the church and in society? It means that I come to my church fully functioning. I bring myself, my black self, all that I have, all that I am, all that I am worth, all I hope to become. I bring my whole history, my experiences, my culture, my African-American song and dance and gesture and movement, and teaching and preaching and healing and responsibility as gifts to the church…”
The Prayer of the Faithful was led by Saint Peter’s permanent staff deacon, Wesley Lindsay, who included offered prayer for the beatification, blessing, and canonization of Servant of God – Sister Thea Bowman. Certainly, the journey toward her canonization has begun – and imagine if she is to become the very first female African-American saint, from right here in Mississippi!
The recording of Sister Bowman’s address to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1989, can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWGOKdTtYnI. Information about sainthood, provided by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops can be found at https://www.usccb.org/offices/public-affairs/saints.
More information about Sister Thea’s story can be found through the Sister Thea Bowman Black Catholic Education Foundation at this site: https://theabowmanfoundation.org
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