Servant of God Sr. Thea Bowman, F.S.P.A., M.A. 1969, Ph.D. 1972, is a step closer to being recognized as a saint.
The Diocese of Jackson – where she was born, became Catholic, and later served as an intercultural consultant – has completed the initial phase of her canonization process. This included researching and documenting her life and virtue.
Boxes filled with the findings and documents gathered during this phase will be ceremonially sealed and then sent to the Congregation of the Causes of Saints following a Feb. 9, 2026, Mass of Thanksgiving celebrated by Bishop Joseph Kopacz in Jackson, Miss.
“We join our prayers to those of the Diocese of Jackson as Sr. Thea’s process of canonization moves ahead. Her legacy of compassion, prophetic witness, inculturation of worship, and unwavering love for Christ and the Church continues to inspire the generations of students who have walked the same campus she did,” said University President Peter Kilpatrick.
The descendant of enslaved persons, Sr. Thea Bowman’s parents sent her to Catholic schools. She became Catholic in high school and, inspired by Catholic sisters and priests, joined a religious order. She went on to teach at the elementary and secondary levels.
She earned her master's and PhD in literature from Catholic University, where she taught the University's first Black literature course. But she became most widely known for her national advocacy for interreligious solidarity and promoting the gifts of Black Catholics within the Church.
She often used music to evangelize and bridge interracial divides, an approach she developed while studying at Catholic University.
In the Winter 1990 edition of CUA Magazine, she wrote that, as a student, she “began to realize the extent to which music encodes values, history and faith of my people.” She wrote a paper on oral tradition in the Black community and music as a means of preserving and passing on culture.
Servant of God Thea Bowman continues to be remembered at the University through the Sister Thea Bowman Committee, Thea Bowman Drive, and events such as the 2025 Sr. Thea Bowman Conference.
