Julia Greeley

Denver’s Angel of Charity

Julia Greeley was born into slavery around 1833 in Hannibal, Missouri, the same small river town that produced Mark Twain. Her earliest memories were of violence. As a young child, she watched as her mother was whipped by their slaveholder, and a lash from the same whip struck Julia across the face, destroying her right eye. She bore that disfigurement for the rest of her life, yet it never diminished the radiance of her charity. After emancipation, Julia made her way westward, eventually settling in Denver, Colorado, where she would spend the rest of her life in quiet, extraordinary service to others.

In 1880, Julia converted to Catholicism at Sacred Heart Church in Denver. She became passionately devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and this devotion shaped everything she did. Working as a domestic servant and laundress, Julia gave away nearly everything she earned. She pulled a little red wagon through the streets of Denver, delivering food, coal, clothing, and firewood to families in need. She made her rounds at night so that those who received her gifts would not be embarrassed to be seen accepting charity. Denver’s firefighters held her in special affection; she visited every firehouse in the city, bringing supplies and holy cards, and they considered her their patron.

Julia Greeley died on June 7, 1918, the Feast of the Sacred Heart, the devotion she had loved above all others. Her funeral at Sacred Heart Church was one of the largest Denver had ever seen, with mourners of every race and station filling the pews. In 2016, the Archdiocese of Denver opened her cause for canonization, and in 2017 her remains were solemnly transferred to the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver. Julia Greeley left no writings, no famous speeches, and no organization bearing her name during her lifetime. She left something greater: a city transformed by hidden acts of love.

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