Saint of the Month: Servant of God Julia Greeley

Servant of God Julia Greeley was a devoted laywoman, former slave, known as Denver’s “Angel of Charity”. Julia was born into slavery sometime between 1833 and 1848 at Hannibal, Missouri. Almost nothing is known about her childhood, and she did not know when she was born. When she was about five years old, she lost her right eye due to being struck by a whip that was being used on her mother. Once she was emancipated during the 1860’s, she went to St. Louis, where she worked as a domestic until 1878. She went to Denver in 1878 to work for a wealthy St. Louis socialite widow, Julia Dickerson, who moved west and married William Gilpin, the first territorial Governor of Colorado. Mrs. Gilpin was a devout Catholic, and Julia learned of the Faith from her. In 1880 Julia was baptized at Sacred Heart Church in Denver, and from then on, she attended Mass daily. She took many of Christ’s words in the Gospels very literally and lived the remainder of her life in perpetual self-denial. She had a remarkable devotion to the Eucharist, to the Virgin Mary, and most especially, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. After her work for the Gilpins ended in 1883, she did whatever work she could find, mostly as a domestic for several families in and around Denver and occasionally as a cook. She also spent much of her time at the parish, sweeping and dusting. She gave away what she made, using only what she needed for food and shelter.

    Julia’s devotion to the Sacred Heart knew no bounds. Even though she could not read or write, she regularly obtained Sacred Heart devotion pamphlets, which she distributed freely. She had a special love for the firemen of Denver, and due to the great risk involved in their work, she was concerned about their readiness to face death. She walked to every fire station in the city each month to give her pamphlets to the firemen. Julia had a very special affection for children and for poor families. She never knew of any family of her own except her mother, so she poured out her kindness on those around her. When what little she had was not enough to help people poorer than herself, she walked through the city, begging on their behalf. She pulled a red wagon with her as she walked the streets, gathering articles to help poor families, including coal for winter heating. She knew that receiving such assistance would be an embarrassment for families, so she would discreetly bring help after dark. She always wore baggy clothes, oversized shoes, and floppy hats. 

    In 1901, Julia became a Third Order Franciscan. St. Francis of Assisi obtained a plenary indulgence in 1216, which was eventually extended worldwide to all Franciscan parishes on August 2. Each year on that date, Julia would arrive at the Franciscan church as soon as the doors were opened and would remain until the church was locked in the evening, in order to obtain as many plenary indulgences as possible for suffering souls. Some of the families that Julia secretly helped became friends with her, one of them being the Urquharts, a couple who had been unable to have a child. Julia predicted that they would have a child within one year, which they did. Julia had a special love for the child, named Marjorie. The only known photograph of Julia was taken of her holding baby Marjorie. Because Julia was wearing a wide-brimmed hat, only half of her face can be seen.
 
    On June 7, 1918, as Julia was on her way to attend Mass at Sacred Heart Church, she became very sick. She received the Last Rites and died later that day at a local hospital. It was the feast day of the Sacred Heart and Julia was somewhere between seventy and eighty-five years old. When her body lay in state for visitation, the only layperson in Denver’s history to have that honor, throngs from the very wealthy to the very poor came to pay their respects. Her remains were buried at a local cemetery. Although there had been talk of opening a canonization cause for her, it took until a Capuchin priest did some research on her life in 2011. A guild was formed and in 2014, the Archdiocese of Denver opened the cause. When her body was exhumed and transferred to the Cathedral in 2017, it was discovered that she suffered from debilitating arthritis. Once again, long lines of people came to view and venerate her remains. She is the only person, lay or clerical, to be entombed at Denver’s Immaculate Conception  Cathedral.  

    Servant of God Julia Greeley lived a life of extraordinary charity and self-denial. She is said to have had a smile that could not be forgotten. She is known as Denver’s “angel of charity” and “Apostle of the Sacred Heart”, and one person described her as “a one-person St. Vincent de Paul Society”. In 2021, the cause for her canonization was validated by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican.