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Loretto celebrates its New Mexico legacy

Posted on February 17, 2023, by Loretto Community

A smiling woman sits in the driver's seat. — Mary E. “Buffy” Boesen SL drives the El Paso Loretto Academy bus, transporting Community members and friends to the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in Santa Fe to celebrate the donation of the painting, “Our Lady of Light.”
Photo by Christina Manweller

A woman in a brilliant red dress embroidered with colorful flowers steps off a white bus. — Loretto Community members arrive looking forward to the museum event! Stepping off the bus is Irma Avila SL.
Photo by Christina Manweller

A woman in a black top dress embroidered with colorful flowers steps off a white bus. — Mary Margaret Murphy SL steps off the bus.
Photo by Christina Manweller

Community members and friends gathered this past September to celebrate Loretto’s 170th anniversary of working and serving in New Mexico. “Our Lady of Light,” the painting donated to the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in Santa Fe (see this article), was the focus of the first evening’s presentation and reception, held at the museum. Speakers included Loretto Historian Eleanor Craig SL, the museum’s Executive Director Jennifer Berkley and New Mexico art historian Donna Pierce.

In her talk, Eleanor mentioned that, from the beginning, Loretto’s veil depicted the heart of Jesus and the heart of Mary, representing to the sisters their wholehearted dedication to those with whom they lived, worked and served. This wholeheartedness is evident in Loretto’s New Mexico history. As Kathleen Ortiz, educated by Loretto, commented, “Loretto’s impact on the community in New Mexico has been significant through the generations.”

A spiral staircase spirals up to the balcony of a church. — The Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, N.M., built around 1880, was designed by a French architect and modeled on La Sainte Chapelle in Paris. The chapel with its “miraculous” staircase (socalled because it was built without a center support by a mysterious carpenter) is a popular tourist destination. Originally, the staircase, made using wooden pegs, did not include the handrail, a later addition.
Photo by Christina Manweller

The next evening, a presentation on Loretto’s history in New Mexico was held at Santa Fe’s Loretto Chapel and featured a video prepared by Eleanor and Neil Tucker CoL. The video highlights Loretto Community members sharing Loretto’s New Mexico story, as well as historic photos and interviews with Loretto school alum. We learn that in Santa Fe in 1896, Loretto built a three-story convent next to the chapel (which had been built around 1880) and later, a grade school, followed by a large high school. In the 1930s, the sisters opened the Opportunity School to serve children with mental and physical disabilities, a novel undertaking at the time. Loretto’s wholeheartedness in New Mexico has a long, rich history. Community members operated, and/or taught in, 23 schools in locations across the state.

That same evening, Loretto’s newest co-member, Allison Grace Lemons, was accepted into the Community during a beautiful ceremony in keeping with the Loretto spirit.

Finally, a reception at the Inn at Loretto was attended by many Loretto members, friends and former students.

Neil Tucker CoL and Eleanor Craig SL created a Loretto in New Mexico video; watch online here.

Two women with big smiles pose arm and arm for a photo together. — Joan Spero SL and Mary Ellen McElroy SL enjoy a moment on the museum’s patio. They traveled with Cathy Mueller SL from Denver for the occasion.
Photo by Christina Manweller

Kathleen Ortiz attended the presentations at the museum and Loretto Chapel. She is a Loretto-educated 15th generation New Mexican on her mother’s side and 11th generation on her father’s side. Her family members were among those who welcomed Loretto sisters to Santa Fe in 1852. Her mother, brother and aunts were educated by Loretto. She was educated by Loretto in childhood and also earned a bachelor’s from Loretto Heights College in Denver. She went on to earn two master’s degrees at Georgetown University. Kathleen is thankful for her Loretto education.
Photo by Christina Manweller