“Jesus was everything to her”: the “fastest nun in the West” gets closer to canonization

A nun who befriended Billy the Kid, calmed a lynching and testified against human trafficking is one step closer to canonization. Servant of God Sister Blandina Segale – an Italian immigrant who ministered during the Wild West era – is about to be named “Venerable,” said Allen Sánchez, the petitioner of her cause, during a press conference on January 3.

Like Jesus Christ, Sister Blandina turned to the peripheries, Santa Fe Archbishop John C. Wester said at the news conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a place where Sister Blandina served for years.

“Jesus was everything to her,” he said.

Sánchez said he believes Sister Blandina’s spirituality can be summed up in one sentence: “Who are the vulnerable people and what do they need from me?”

According to Sánchez, Vatican historians recently reviewed the “positio,” a verified account of his life, and voted yes to advance his cause.

So far, 49 people have credited Sister Blandina with a miracle due to her intercession, Sánchez said. After one of these events is officially considered miraculous by the Church, the future Venerable Blandina Segale will be on her way to beatification. It would take a second verified miracle to advance his cause to the final stage: canonization.

Maria Rosa Segale was born on January 23, 1850, in Cicagna, Italy, and moved with her family to the United States in 1854. (Sánchez indicated that if canonized, Sister Blandina would be the patroness of immigrant children). After graduating from school, she joined the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, which traces its roots to Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. Segale was given the name Sister Blandina in honor of Saint Blandina, a martyr during the Roman persecution.

Throughout her life, Sister Blandina founded many institutions, including public and Catholic schools and hospitals in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. In Cincinnati, she and her biological sister, Sister Justina, founded a resettlement home for newly arrived Italian immigrants called the Santa Maria Institute. His life is filled with larger-than-life exploits, many of which are recorded in his diary. The diary was supposed to be a story for his sister. At the request of the governor of New Mexico, Sister Blandina’s diary was published in 1932 under the title “At the End of the Santa Fe Trail.”

One day, Sister Blandina persuaded a dying young man to forgive his killer, whom she publicly escorted before an angry crowd so he could ask for forgiveness in person. His courageous efforts stopped the mob from executing the man and allowed justice to take its course.

Another time, she provided medical treatment to a member of Billy the Kid’s gang. Later, when the famous outlaw attacked the stagecoach in which Sister Blandina was traveling, he recognized her and let the travelers go in peace.

She frequently stood up for the underprivileged. According to a January 2 press release, “Sister Blandina and a young woman she saved from the hands of criminals trafficking young girls for prostitution were the first women to testify before the United States Congress on the trafficking in human beings.”

Since Sister Blandina’s death in 1941, the stories of her life have been featured in books, magazines and on screen, including on the television show “Death Valley Days” (episode “The Fastest Nun in the World”). West”) and a CBS documentary titled “Sister Blandina, a saint for Cincinnati.

A biography of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati notes that the courageous and hardworking nun was considered a saint in her time. He recounted how a Cincinnati Post reporter wrote in 1931 about Sister Blandina’s return to Italy after 77 years: “Four years…when she left her native country; at 81, she returns. She goes to the Pope to place Mother Elizabeth Seton among the saints, but people say that S. Blandina is quite a saint herself, canonized by 60 years of fidelity.

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