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Article: KENTUCKY NUNS ANSWERED CALL 2,000 MILES AWAY.(Kentucky Life: History)
- Article from:
- The Kentucky Post (Covington, KY)
- Article date:
- March 1, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Kentucky Post. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Berry Craig
SANTA FE, N.M. -- Father Jean Baptiste Lamy, first U.S. bishop of the New Mexico Territory, needed Catholic teachers.
"I have 6,000 Catholics and 300 Americans," the French-born bishop was said to have pleaded in one of several letters he sent back East.
Seven nuns from Loretto, Ky., were the first to answer his call. "The Sisters of Loretto traveled all the way by steamboat and the Santa Fe Trail," said Sister Susan Swain, a member of the Loretto Community in Englewood, Colo.
The 1851-1852 trek took eight months and covered 2,100 miles. Only four sisters reached Bishop Lamy in Santa Fe, capital of New Mexico. "I ...