An Hour With Julia Greeley

An Hour with Julia Greeley tells the story of a woman who was born into slavery near Hannibal, Missouri, sometime between 1833 and 1948. As a child, the whip of a slave-handler blinded her right eye, and fluids oozing from its socket remained a permanent badge of her slavery.

Greeley was freed at the end of the Civil War and became a cook and nanny to Julia Pratte Dickerson of St. Louis, who soon married William Gilpin. When Gilpin became the first territorial governor of Colorado, the couple moved to Denver and Greeley accompanied them.

Baptized in 1880, Greeley joined the Secular Franciscan Order in 1901. Despite being poor herself and never learning to read or write, she lived the values of the gospel. Greeley cared for Denver’s poor by sharing food, clothing, fuel, and whatever else was needed. She made the deliveries at night so as not to embarrass the recipients. Greeley solicited clothing from affluent families and gave them to poor young woman, teaching them be concerned about those less fortunate than themselves.

An Hour With Julia Greeley creates a time of reflection, recollection, learning, contemplation, and prayer. In addition to a short biography, it includes meditations on her spirituality.

Pamphlet. This item is not returnable.