Sister Thea Bowman

Saints don't always come from far off times. Thea Bowman was born in 1937 in Yazoo City, Mississippi. Her grandfather was born a slave. Today, she is being considered for sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church! She ended up being an important link between the African American community and Roman Catholicism.

She was raised as a Christian Methodist, but at the age of nine, she asked her parents' permission to convert to Catholicism and took her first communion.

She was the first African American nun to become a sister in the order of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration at La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Music was very important to her. She helped create a new African American Catholic hymnal, selecting songs for it. She wrote an essay for the hymnal as well, entitled “The Gift of African American Sacred Song.”

Sister Thea BowmanSister Thea Bowman FoundationSister Thea returned to Jackson, Mississippi and became director of Intercultural Awareness for its diocese. She preached to black congregations, traveling to Africa, Canada and different cities in the U.S., with what she called a ministry of joy. She helped cross the lines of segregation in the Roman Catholic Church and brought people together.

She died of bone cancer, serving even while she was ill. 

The Roman Catholic Church now considers her a "servant of God," which is one of the four stages toward sainthood. Sister Thea was much-loved by those who knew her: "She was song. She was the joyous Franciscan always.”

Watch "Are You Walkin' With Me? Sister Thea Bowman"

This documentary on Sister Thea Bowman was produced by the University of Mississippi Southern Studies Center.