Topic archive
Cemeteries
Burial sites of Loretto members can be found at Loretto Motherhouse, Denver, El Paso, St. Louis and in many other locations in the United States and beyond. Not only are the graves honored through perpetual care, but through a perpetual remembrance in the hearts of all members and all who love Loretto.
Bellarmine students use classroom skills to locate and mark graves of Black Catholics
Posted by The Record, April 22, 2026 Bellarmine University students studying geographic information systems last fall mapped and marked the graves of Black Catholics buried in the Archdiocese of Louisville’s St. Louis Cemetery. It was the latest step in an…
Holy Ground: Cemeteries of Loretto
The cemeteries of the Sisters of Loretto are indeed holy ground. Loretto members and others rest in the sacred earth God has given us. God loves each soul whose final mission is their journey into our Creator’s life. They are…
The Sisters of Loretto Share a Kinship With the Earth
An anthropologist looks to a religious community of women in rural Kentucky for scientifically informed lessons in land stewardship. Could they be a model for activists and policymakers to move beyond partisan approaches to climate change? Published by Sapiens Anthropology…
Sing Alleluia to Our God!: Loretto Natural Burial Practices
Gain souls, draw souls, court souls, shelter souls. I Am the Way, the Constitutions of the Sisters of Loretto,p. 2 What is a green, or natural, burial? A green or “natural” burial conserves natural resources, preserves the environment and honors…
The church forbids ‘human composting’ at death. But what about ‘green’ burials?
Published by America Magazine Oct. 13, 2022. “So is there a way for Catholics to honor the sacredness of the body in a conservation burial that also honors the sacredness of the land? The answer lies in a 200-plus-year-old community…
St. Mary’s and Loretto Heights Sisters Moved to Mt. Olivet Cemetery
M. Josefina Ortiz (1861-1896) was the first sister to be buried in the Loretto Heights Convent Cemetery, in Feb. 1896. Rita Therese DuBor (1909-1969) was the last to be buried, in 1969. Ten of the 62 sisters had been first…
‘Operation Sacred Rescue’: Remains of 62 Loretto Sisters from Loretto Heights Cemetery Reinterred
“I just needed to tell you how truly reverent, respectful and joyful was the relocation ceremony of the good sisters at Mt. Olivet. Many more people will visit Mt. Olivet in the decades to come than ever would have returned…
Bringing Sisters Back Together: Loretto Begins Exhumation of Sisters Buried in Loretto Heights Cemetery
Five years ago, with the announcement of the pending sale of the Loretto Heights campus, Loretto began prayerful and thoughtful research into how the Community could best ensure the perpetual care of the 62 Sisters of Loretto buried in the…
Standing on the Shoulders of the Ones Who Came Before Us
On April 25 we gathered in the Loretto Heights cemetery in Denver to celebrate Loretto’s Foundation Day and honor “the ones who came before us.” Attendees included several sisters of Loretto, co-members, St. Mary’s staff, Loretto Heights alumnae, neighbors and…
Foundation Day at Loretto Heights
To honor Foundation Day (April 25, 1812) in Denver, sisters, co-members, Spirit of Loretto Committee members, alums, neighbors from north of the cem- etery and Denver City Councilman Kevin Flynn and his wife Harriet gathered in the Loretto Heights College…
Forward, Forward Loretto
“Forward, Forward Loretto. Hold the torch ever firm in your hand. Let the rays of its light lead you onward. Spreading courage and hope through the land. Thy shining fame has enrolled thy name. With the brightest of all our…
Loretto Follows the Santa Fe Trail
Eleanor Craig has been heard to say that, “a few minutes of misery can provide a lifetime of great stories.” The trip following the Santa Fe Trail that 11 of us recently experienced certainly supports this statement. The idea for…