Memorial Card for Sisters Blandina and Justina Segale honoring their service at Santa Maria Institute, circa 1942
Sister Blandina Segale Legendary Sister of Charity of Cincinnati Who Ministered in the Wild West Now on the Path to Sainthood BY PATRICIA MCGEEVER
Holy, heroic, brave and bold: all words that describe the Sister of Charity of Cincinnati who could become Cincinnati’s first saint. Servant of God Sister Blandina Segale spent most of her life in Cincinnati but the Archdiocese of Santa Fe claims her as its own, too, and took the action that led to the opening of her cause for sainthood in 2014. Her adventures are legendary and the subject of comic books and television shows. Now, her journey along the Santa Fe Trail may be part of her path to sainthood. Her story began in Italy in 1850 when Rosa Maria Segale was born. At age four, she emigrated to the U.S. with her family and at age 16, entered the convent. After teaching in Dayton and Steubenville, she was given orders to join other sisters in on the western frontier. “She was in her twenties,” said Veronica Buchanan, Archivist for the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. “She traveled west alone, which was very rare at the time.” At 22, she landed in Trinidad, part of the Colorado Territory and eventually moved to Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Formidable and fearless, she never faced a challenge she couldn’t meet. Sister Blandina oversaw the building of schools, hospitals and a convent. She stood up to human traffickers and stood up for the oppressed. She negotiated with tradesmen and lawmakers. When her school needed a roof, she climbed 7 2 | TH E C ATHOLIC TE LEGR A P H
