More "Cowboy" History, This Time With A Religious Twist.

I do not think it is totally Sister Blandina Segale's fault that she ended up as a goofy historical footnote who will now have her own television series and who seems on her way to sainthood. Read about it at the site below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blandina_Segale

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe has opened a process to canonize Segale.

Letters that she would write to her sister back east were found and published in to a book titled "At The End Of The Santa Fe Trail"  in 1948 by the Bruce Publishing Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

Click on this image to make it larger

In these letters Sister Blandina was bragging a bit, to say the least. But she was bragging to her sister. She never intended for her letters to be published almost a century later. But the American public, hungry for heroes and heroines and a good story ate this up. Now there are plans to make a television series about her exploits and she is well on her way to sainthood in part because of her bragging to her sister.

In the book it states up front on pages 11 and 12 "Nor did she quail when she asked Billy the Kid and his gang not to scalp Trinidad's four physicians, although Billy had come to Trinidad for the express purpose of killing these four men."

Note that there is no credible proof, nor other writings, indicating that Billy The Kid was ever in Trinidad nor any place north of Las Vegas, New Mexico nor any of his "gang" raiding on the Santa Fe Trail as this book indicates.

There are several references to Billy the Kid in her book. But we must remember that these references were in letters sent to her sister and really never meant to be published.

From the publication The American Catholic come this bit of information:

"One of the many outlaws who terrorized the area was Arthur Pond aka William LeRoy, sometimes known as Billy the Kid, and who was celebrated as the King of American Highwaymen by the “penny dreadful” novelist  Richard K. Fox who released a heavily fictionalized biography of him immediately after his death, conflating his exploits with those of the more famous Billy the Kid.  (Sister Blandina in later life confused LeRoy with William H. Bonney, the more famous Billy the Kid, who operated in New Mexico a few years later.  Sister Blandina had known the outlaw only by his nickname and didn’t realize that there were two Billy the Kids, who died within months of each other in 1881.)"

Note: There is so much of this fantasy that passes for history in the United States it is hard for the average person not to swallow this stuff..... hook, line, and sinker.

Nun who stood up to Billy the Kid faces sainthood test. Some "Cowboy History Included".

Note: It has been proven that she could not have "faced down" Billy the Kid. Anyway, the information below comes from the Santa Fe, New Mexican. It proves the cowboy history folks like to believe, and former Santa Fe Archbishop Michael Sheehan who is the one who started this effort seems to be just another cowboy wannabe.

Sister Blandinas 1948 book "At the End of The Santa Fe Trail" published by the Bruce Publishing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is a book mostly about Sister Blandina's writings back east to her sister. She never intended them to be published, at least it does not seem so. Personally I think she wanted to make her life appear interesting to her sister and embellished her "heroic" accounts.  

If they make her a saint, so be it. But she liked to exaggerate her accomplishments to the folks she wrote the letters which are the basis of her book. But even I, have to admit that is does make for interesting reading...... 

        Posted: Tuesday, August 25, 2015 3:18 pm | Updated: 4:50 pm, Tue Aug 25, 2015.

 Associated Press 

ALBUQUERQUE — An Italian-born nun who confronted Billy the Kid, calmed angry mobs and helped open New Mexico territory hospitals and schools faced her first test for the long road to sainthood on Tuesday.

Supporters and researchers presented their case before the Archdiocese of Santa Fe at a ceremonial "first inquiry" in Albuquerque on why Sister Blandina Segale should become a saint. The public inquiry, headed by former Archbishop Michael Sheehan, was aimed at determining if there was enough evidence to move her case through the largely secret process at the Vatican. Witnesses said Segale fought against the cruel treatment of American Indians and sought to stop the trafficking of women as sex slaves. They also testified that in death, Segale has helped cancer patients and poor immigrants who have prayed to her for help.

Victoria Marie Forde of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati said documents showed Segale went out of her way to provide assistance to Italian-American immigrants and protect Mexican Americans facing violence in western territories.

"Sister Blandina as a canonized saint will lead and strengthen thousands of others to see that they, too, can fight injustice with compassion and untiring ingenuity," she said.

Last year, the archdiocese received permission from the Vatican to open her sainthood cause. It's the first time in New Mexico's 400-year history with the Roman Catholic Church that a decree opening the cause of beatification and canonization has been declared in the state, church officials said.
Segale, a nun with the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, came to Trinidad, Colorado, in 1877 to teach poor children and was later transferred to Santa Fe, where she co-founded public and Catholic schools.

During her time in New Mexico, she worked with the poor, the sick and immigrants. She also advocated on behalf of Hispanics and Native Americans who were losing their land to swindlers.
Her encounters with Old West outlaws later became the stuff of legend and were the subject of an episode of the CBS series "Death Valley Days." The episode, called "The Fastest Nun in the West," focused on her efforts to save a man from a lynch mob.

But her encounters with Billy the Kid remain among her most popular and well-known Western frontier adventures.

According to one story, she received a tip that The Kid was coming to her town to scalp the four doctors who refused to treat his friend's gunshot wound. Segale nursed the friend to health, and when Billy went to Trinidad to thank her, she asked him to abandon his violent plan. He agreed.
Tales she wrote in letters to her sister later became the book "At the End of the Santa Fe Trail."
Peco Chavez, a lawyer who investigated historic claims about Segale stopping a mob attack, said he found evidence the event occurred, but documents couldn't verify if Segale intervened.
"But she was in Trinidad at that time," he said.

Later, Segale founded St. Joseph's Hospital in Albuquerque before returning to Cincinnati in 1897 to start Santa Maria Institute, which served recent immigrants.

Her work resonates today, with poverty, immigration and child care still being high-profile issues, said Allen Sanchez, president and CEO for CHI St. Joseph's Children in Albuquerque, a social service agency Segale founded.

Officials say determining whether Segale qualifies for sainthood could take up to a century. The Vatican has to investigate her work and monitor for any related "miracles."
Those miracles could come in the form of healings, assistance to immigrant children detained at the U.S. border or some other unexplained occurrences after devotees pray to her, officials said.