The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul became the shrine of St. Katharine Drexel with the recent relocation of her sacred remains to the edifice.  SITIO designed the relocated tomb for an honorific place in the Cathedral, adjacent the Drexel family altar erected in the 1880’s, and below a monumental mosaic depicting her life.  The new tomb incorporates elements of her original shrine, including its amber sandstone and rustic southwestern poly-chromed woodcut, adapting them to fit harmoniously within the ornate architecture of the Cathedral Basilica.

Saint Katherine is the patron Saint of racial justice and philanthropists, having dedicated her vast fortune to develop a network of 145 Catholic missions as well as 12 schools for Native Americans and 50 schools for African Americans located throughout the American South and West. Katharine also stood up to Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan while battling the general public’s negative reactions toward women’s suffrage.