SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 48

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2012

INTRODUCED BY

John C. Ryan

A JOINT MEMORIAL

HONORING THE SISTERS OF LORETTO AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS ON THE OCCASION OF THEIR TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY AND THANKING THEM FOR THEIR TEACHING EFFORTS OVER THE LAST ONE HUNDRED SIXTY YEARS IN NEW MEXICO.

     WHEREAS, the sisters of Loretto at the foot of the cross was founded in Kentucky in 1812, under the name of "Friends of Mary", with the purpose of educating children in that state; and

     WHEREAS, the order was founded by three women, Mary Rhodes, Ann Havern and Christina Stuart, with the assistance of Father Charles Nerinckx; and

     WHEREAS, the sisters of Loretto are the first wholly American religious order of women in the United States, founded without foreign affiliation; and

     WHEREAS, in 1852, at the urging of Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy, six sisters left the Kentucky mother house for Santa Fe, in the New Mexico territory; and

     WHEREAS, the sisters made the arduous journey by boat up the Mississippi to Independence, Missouri, and across the American great plains by horses and a covered wagon, along the way beset by a cholera epidemic and the other dangers and vicissitudes of travel in the midwest and southwest of the 1800s; along the way, the Mother Superior died and another nun was too ill to continue the journey and returned to Kentucky, but the four remaining sisters persevered and arrived in Santa Fe on September 26, 1852; and

     WHEREAS, shortly after arrival, the sisters began learning Spanish and opened the academy of Our Lady of Light in 1853, a school for girls; and

     WHEREAS, the sisters of Loretto founded and taught at several schools throughout New Mexico, including Taos, founded in 1863; Mora, 1864; Albuquerque, 1866; West Las Vegas, 1869; Las Cruces, 1870; Bernalillo, 1875; Socorro, 1879; and East Las Vegas, 1912; and

     WHEREAS, the sisters also taught at other schools, including Tierra Amarilla, Chama, Jemez Springs and Tome; and

     WHEREAS, when New Mexico became a state in 1912, some of the Loretto schools became the first public schools or were incorporated into the public school system; and

     WHEREAS, during the one hundred sixty years the sisters of Loretto at the foot of the cross have been in New Mexico, they have been responsible for educating many generations of New Mexicans and they have contributed greatly to the history and pioneer spirit of the state;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the sisters of Loretto at the foot of the cross be congratulated on their two hundredth year jubilee on April 26, 2012 and thanked for their long history of service to New Mexico, particularly to the children; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the sisters of Loretto at the foot of the cross.

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