How a Hackworth Fellowship helped one senior trace her faith and family to a surprising connection to Pope Leo XIV

Gabrielle Pitre ’26 was sitting at her kitchen table in Seattle over spring break when an email from the Diocese of Lafayette popped up on her phone. Inside were the baptismal records of her great-grandparents—written in French, from a long-ago Louisiana she’d only ever known through family stories.

That moment was the culmination of a year of combing through museum articles, tracing family stories, and hunting census and church records as part of Pitre’s Hackworth Fellowship at Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Pitre focused her project on how Black Catholics reconcile their faith identity and racial identity through tracing her own Catholic Creole ancestry back to 18th-century Louisiana.

“Reflecting on ancestral lineage is a central part of African American culture,” she explains. “Watching the racial reckoning in the last decade, I began to think more about my ancestors’ journeys as both Black and Catholic. What thoughts and feelings did my ancestors have when they baptized their children into Catholicism while their people were treated as commodities by other Catholics?”

Pitre’s research took her deep into Louisiana history, where she discovered that, remarkably, she and Pope Leo XIV share a common ancestor: Marie Jeanne Davion. From that ancestor, Pitre found a multigenerational story of survival, faith, and resilience that stretched from the antebellum South to the present.

“Oftentimes, we are pressured by society to separate our racial identity from our faith identity. However, this process has shown me that both can coexist and create a beautiful and unique experience.”

Her research eventually became an article in America—the largest Jesuit periodical in the U.S.—adding “published author” to her resume before crossing the graduation stage. But the confidence she gained from this accomplishment actually started closer to home.

When Pitre arrived on campus her first year, one of her orientation leaders was Hydeia Wysinger ’25, a member of Igwebuike, Santa Clara’s Black student union. The hug Wysinger gave her during Welcome Weekend set the tone of warmth and energy that defined their friendship. Wysinger later became a Hackworth Fellow and was one of the first people Pitre turned to when she was deciding whether to apply for the fellowship. From Thursday night cookies in the Sobrato residence hall lobby, friends made through chance encounters, and the Igwebuike community, Pitre discovered a more empathetic, more confident version of herself at Santa Clara.

After graduation, Pitre plans to pursue graduate school at the intersection of race and politics.

On the Jesuit education at Santa Clara:

“I remember coming for Preview Day, and I just immediately felt the love within the community. In high school, education was just about cultivating the mind. A Jesuit education centers the whole person—mind, body, and spirit. It’s about taking a break when you need it, making sure you’re doing work that fulfills you. It really cultivates spiritual growth.”

On Santa Clara deepening her relationship with her faith:

“Coming here, I felt like I was able to really express my faith. I really have been able to lean into that religious aspect—through my coursework, my research, my involvement with the Ignatian Center, and just going to the student mass on campus.”