Sister Blandina Segale

Sister Blandina Segale
On the Road to Sainthood

Sr. Blandina Segale, the 19th century Italian-born nun, whose run-in with Old West outlaw Billy the Kid earned her the nickname, “the fastest nun in the West” started along the path to sainthood when a ceremonial first inquiry was presented in Albuquerque on Tuesday, August 25th. Sr. Blandina returned to Cincinnati to start the Santa Maria Community Services which helped Italian immigrants and is still in existence today. You can read the about Sr. Blandina’s road to sainthood here. In 1877, S. Blandina went with her sister, S. Justina Segale, “to see if they could do anything for the poor Italian [immigrants]” in the city of Cincinnati. Together they founded Santa Maria Institute, one of the first Catholic settlement houses in the United States.