ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A woman known as the “fastest nun in the West,” who served areas of Santa Fe and Albuquerque in the late 1800s, is one step closer to becoming a saint in the Catholic Church. Known for starting the first public schools and building hospitals in the state, News 13 has details on what Sister Blandina Segale’s legacy means to New Mexico.
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“Daily she asked herself, ‘who are the vulnerable and what do they need from me?’ That is a message for the whole world today, Catholic or not. Who are the vulnerable, and what do they need from me?” said Allen Sánchez, president of CommonSpirit St. Joseph’s Children.
Sister Blandina Segale, an immigrant from Italy who entered the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati in the 1860s, came to serve New Mexico in the 1870s. “She did a lot in New Mexico. She came in in 1872 and she formed schools, the first public school in New Mexico, hospitals, orphanages, she especially reached out to immigrant children,” said Archbishop of Santa Fe John Wester.