Sr. Blandina Segale, Part 1: The Fastest Nun in the West
Sister Blandina Segale was a spitfire of a pint-sized Italian nun who faced down lynch mobs, tamed outlaws, outwitted juvenile troublemakers, and built or rebuilt schools, orphanages, hospitals and convents, often with her own hands and the those of anyone she could cajole or convince to help. Whew! She was originally from Italy, but after her family immigrated when she was 5, she became a Sister of Charity at 16. At 22, in 1872, she was sent to the frontier mining town of Trinidad, Colorado. She spent 20 years out west, and her impact was tremendous. But this episode is only part of her amazing story. After she was recalled to Cincinnati in 1892 she spent another nearly five decades working equally hard for women and children in that town. But that will be a story for another day.
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Charlene Richard, The Little Cajun Saint
Charlene Richard was an ordinary girl in south central Louisiana. She was a typical cajun Catholic girl, good at sports, good at her studies, a devout Catholic, and known to get into a little trouble here and there, just like every other kid her age. But when she was twelve everything changed when she was diagnosed with leukemia, and died just 13 days later. How she suffered for others, and how she accepted her coming death, inspired by St. Therese of Lisieux, made all the difference for “the Little Cajun Saint.”
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"Stagecoach" Mary Fields
"Stagecoach" Mary Fields was a hard-drinking, gun-toting, street-brawling black woman in the Montana frontier. She also was a kind-hearted guardian to the children of the Montana frontier, including native children, and she was a dear friend to the Ursuline nuns who had set up a mission near Cascade, Montana. In spite of her hard work, dedication to those in need, and generosity, she was treated poorly by those in positions of power. She spent eight years as a mail carrier running a Star Route in Montana. She was good at it, but some were upset by how good she was at it and gave her the nickname "Stagecoach Mary" as a way to denigrate her service. After leaving the Star Route she took on other jobs to make ends meet. While some resented her abilities, most loved her and appreciated her generosity and hard work. When she died in 1814 her funeral was one of the largest that Cascade, Montana had ever seen.
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Shrines of St. Anne, Grandmother of Jesus
Shrines dedicated in honor of St. Anne are among the oldest Catholic establishments in the U.S. St Anne de Detroit, for instance, is the second-oldest parish in the United States, while the shrine on Isle la Motte, Vermont, was part of a French fort protecting the southern approaches to Montreal. Some shrines have dramatic stories, like the National Shrine of St. Anne in Scranton, Pennsylvania which nearly collapsed due to mining activity in the hill beneath it. Most have a relic of St. Anne, the grandmother of Jesus. The Shrine of St. Anne in Fall River, Massachusetts was built to rival the great shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre in Quebec, but demographic changes brought that awe-inspiring structure nearly to the point of demolition. These shrines often arose where French and French Canadians settled, as the French have historically had a deep devotion to the mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus.
Image credits: St. Anne de Detroit, creative commons license, Polonia90; St. Anne's Church and Parish Complex, Fall River, Massachusetts, creative commons license, Kenneth C. Zirkel
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Blessed Stanley Rother, Missionary, Martyr
Stanley Rother was born in Okarchee, Oklahoma the oldest of four children to a family of Catholic German farmers. He grew up learning the ways of farming, playing sports, and serving Mass. He entered seminary but struggled with some theology classes and Latin. The seminary eventually sent him home saying he wasn't priest material. Fortunately his bishop and Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland wanted to give him another chance. He graduated and was ordained a priest for Oklahoma City-Tulsa in 1963. In 1968 he requested to be a missionary in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala where the Diocese had a mission. He went and learned both Spanish and the difficult Tzutujil language of the small community of native peasants among whom he served as a missionary. He poured himself into the work, eventually translating the Mass and even the New Testament into Tzutujil. He also worked to bring modern farming techniques to the community and taught math along with language and catechetical lessons. His efforts, however, made him a target of both the government and left-wing militant groups who were fighting a bloody civil war that lasted decades. A number of his parishioners were victims of the Civil War as they refused to cooperate with either side of the fight. Father Rother wrote that "the shepherd doesn't flee at the first sign of danger." Eventually he was found to be number 8 on a death list, so his bishop ordered him to return to Oklahoma. He spent a few months at his family farm, but eventually requested permission to return to Santiago Atitlan to be with his people for Easter. He returned in April 1981, but on July 28, 1981 he was gunned down in the rectory in the middle of the night. He was regarded as a martyr and a great man from immediately after his death. His body was returned to Oklahoma, but his heart was returned to Santiago Atitlan where it remains. His cause for canonization opened in 2010, and he was beatified in a large outdoor Mass in Oklahoma City in 2017. A large shrine dedicated to Blessed Stanley Rother opened in 2023 in Oklahoma City.
Telling the stories of Catholics on these American shores from 1513 to today. We Catholics have such an incredible history in what are now the 50 states of the United States of America, and we hardly know it. From the canonized saints through the hundred-plus blesseds, venerables, and servants of God, to the hundreds more whose lives were sho-through with love of God, our country is covered from sea to shining sea with holy sites, historic structures, and the graves of great men and women of faith. We tell the stories that make them human, and so inspiring.
Brasil