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LOREtto
Welcome to LOREtto, a blog created by Loretto Heritage Center to share insights into the rich history of the Loretto Community. Learn more about our Heritage Center and archives.
LOREtto Teaching: FIDES, MORES, CULTURA
Loretto Academy at Loretto Motherhouse, opened in 1834 in today’s “Rhodes Hall,” steadily pursued its mission of education, through times of financial boom and bust, through the fire of 1858 which destroyed most of the Motherhouse, and despite the turmoil…
Teaching: From the Three Rs to the Higher Branches
Two buildings on the grounds of Loretto Motherhouse are in the midst of significant anniversaries. The buildings that today we call “Rhodes Hall” and the “Novitiate/Academy Building” together mark 175 years of young ladies’ education at the Sisters of Loretto…
LOREtto: Thomas Merton and Loretto
By Susanna Pyatt 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of Thomas Merton’s death. As a monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Merton was a neighbor of the Sisters at the Loretto Motherhouse. The Heritage Center is currently planning an exhibit for…
Vestina Moran and the Stagecoach to Santa Fe
Adapted by Katie Santa Ana The following story has been adapted from an unsigned account found in the personnel file of Sister Vestina Moran SL. While we can’t confirm all the facts, it’s certainly a fascinating read! Sister M. Vestina…
Sisters in Service During World War I
By Laurel Wilson A row of white tents lined the campus of Loretto Heights Academy in Denver during July 1917. For three weeks, the Heights was transformed into the National Service School, a camp started by the Woman’s Section of…
Getting to Know Florence Wolff
By Katie Santa Ana Flipping through the paper finding aids of the Sisters of Loretto archives, one name appears at the top of each page more often than not: Sister Florence Wolff. Her carefully typed pages served as the guide…
The Sisters of Loretto and the Great Flood of 1937
By Laurel Wilson Sister Nerinckx Blincoe SL, Superior of Loretto High School in Louisville, found herself in a predicament on Saturday, January 23, 1937. The Ohio River was flooding at record levels, and Louisville had been hit with 15 inches…
Loretto in Taos
The late August numbers of the Taos newspapers in 1913 carried the following, in Spanish and in English: GOLDEN JUBILEEThe Sisters of Loretto Spend Half a Century in Taos, New MexicoEarly in 1863, Rev. Father Gabriel Usell, the then parish…
Our First Registered Nurse
By Katie Santa Ana While the Sisters of Loretto are well known for the hundreds of teachers in their history, many Sisters also chose medical professions. While Sisters of Loretto served early on in nursing roles – such as during…
Agnesetta Reid’s Only Solace
By Laurel Wilson For today’s LOREtto blog post, I’d like to highlight the life of Sister Agnesetta Reid SL, whose personal papers I recently processed in the Archives. Though Agnesetta’s life was short and often full of suffering, she was…
Loretto History Through Comics
By Laurel Wilson Throughout their 200-year history, Lorettos have seen the importance of sharing their past. Numerous Sister of Loretto have used their writing talents to record the history of their community through books, articles, pamphlets, and more. One unique…
Our Second Archivist, M. Matilda Barrett
By Katie Santa Ana In June of 1968, author Paul Horgan wrote to Sister Mary Luke Tobin SL: “I have never forgotten the kindness and generosity of my reception at Loretto; and Sister Matilda’s lovely enthusiasm, her warm eagerness to…