A favorite story of #DorothyDay, who died Nov 29 1980. When she was a child in Chicago, Dorothy went to visit her friend Katheryn Barrett in a neighboring tenement apt. Bursting into the kitchen she found Katheryn’s mother kneeling on the floor saying her prayers. 
Mrs Barrett said Katheryn was out and then proceeded with her prayers. Day writes, “I felt a warm burst of love toward Mrs. Barrett that I have never forgotten, a feeling of gratitude and happiness that still warms my heart when I remember her. ...
“She had God, and there was beauty and joy in her life.” Day’s own later life was marked by drama, but the memory of this little scene never left her. “There were moments when, in the midst of misery and class strife, life was shot through with glory. ...
”Mrs. Barrett in her sordid little tenement flat finished her breakfast dishes at ten o'clock in the morning and got down on her knees and prayed to God.” Today Day’s cause for canonization is in process. Pope Francis cited her as one of 4 “great Americans.”
Yet one pauses to consider that behind every great saint there are undoubtedly many other anonymous figures like Mrs. Barrett, who could never conceive the influence of their simple witness.
