Denver, Colo., Sep 7, 2016 / 10:06 am
Julia Greeley was a familiar sight on the streets of Denver in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Wearing a floppy hat, oversized shoes, and dabbing her bad eye with a handkerchief, Greeley was often seen pulling her red wagon of goods to deliver to the poor and homeless of the city. She had a particularly special devotion to the Sacred Heart, and would deliver images and information about the icon to firefighters throughout Denver every month.
Her charitable work earned her the title of a "one-person St. Vincent de Paul Society" from one writer, and has made her the local model of mercy for the Jubilee Year of Mercy.
Born a slave in Hannibal, Missouri sometime between 1833 and 1848, Greeley endured some horrific treatment – once, a whip caught her right eye and destroyed it as a slave master beat Greeley's mother.