Topic archive
History
Two hundred years and counting! Loretto has responded to the call of God to serve God’s people. From children to adults, from elementary to graduate-level education, from eldercare to advocacy for the homelessness and underserved, Loretto has left its mark on the world as it seeks to “work for justice and act for peace.” Learn more about the history of Loretto.
The City Workhouse Library
By Ashley Doughty The Loretto Heritage Center was pleased to host Ashley as our summer intern. Ashley is spent the summer living at the Valley House and working with the personal papers of Sr. Maureen McCormack. Ashley comes to us…
How Loretto’s barn quilt came to be
Anndavid Naeger SL tells the story behind the quilt: Of course the design was the log cabin because of our dwelling places in the early 1800s. When Nancy Miles agreed to help us with the project, she set about the…
Family History Day at the Loretto Heritage Center
Please join us for Family History Day 2025: Solving Genealogy Problems Hosted by the Loretto Heritage Center The schedule of the day will include: 10 am – 11 am – Talk by Susan Lewis, Assistant Genealogist for the Nelson County…
Celebrating Loretto’s family connections!
Who knew?! There are so many family connections within Loretto. We have a cousin triangle – Marlene Spero SL is cousin to Joan Spero SL, who is cousin to Denver Loretto Co-member the Rev. Marty Lally. If you visit Pakistan’s…
The power of reckoning: How Catholic Church records can help African Americans uncover their ancestry
Posted by Black Catholic Messenger August 1, 2025 The intersection of the Catholic Church with the transatlantic slave trade is extensive, and the investigation of its history and effects has grown to include a number of organizations in recent years,…
Loretto Roots Tour 2025 rolls along mighty Mississippi to visit Loretto sites
The latest Loretto Roots tour took seven Loretto members to the sites and scenes of early Loretto along the Mississippi River. Leaving the Motherhouse in Nerinx, Ky., the first stops were Reelfoot Lake, Tenn., and New Madrid, Mo., sites of…
WRAC Heritage Center Groundbreaking
Women Religious Archives Collaborative to Break Ground on New Heritage Center to Preserve and Share the History of Catholic Sisters The Women Religious Archives Collaborative (WRAC) is pleased to announce that it will break ground on a new heritage center…
Is Spiderman Buried at the Loretto Motherhouse? Our Lady of Sorrows Cemetery Questions Asked (and Mostly Answered)
This summer, the Loretto Heritage Center and Loretto’s Communications Team is proud to launch our publicly accessible necrology and cemetery database. This searchable database will provide birth and death information for deceased Loretto Community members. The database will also indicate…
LOREtto blog shares stories about cool Loretto history!
Loretto Heritage Center staff preserve the papers and artifacts that document Loretto’s 200-year history; ensure that those who are interested have access to the collections, stories and resources housed at the Heritage Center; and share Loretto’s stories among the Community…
Operation Babylift: 50 years later
In recognition of the fifty-year anniversary of Operation Babylift, multiple news stories are being produced commemorating the event and noting the role that Loretto Community members played in the operation. “The Vietnam War: Flight to a New Future,” with reporting…
Loretto and the Bicentennial
This article was republished from the Fall 1976 issue of Loretto Magazine. When available, the original photograph used in the publication was scanned. Where the original photos couldn’t be located, scans from the magazine were used. Photo captions have also…
One Drum, One Prayer, One Circle
It’s Friday, Feb. 21, and I find myself in the Arizona desert standing in a circle of about 100 people listening to Apache leader Wendsler Nosie Sr. “We’re doing this for those who hate us…. We’re doing it for those…