Book Recommendation

 At The End of the Santa Fe Trail

Sister Blandina Segale

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082BK5YHP/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 

 

This is not only a book recommendation, it is also a continuation of what I wrote about in the last post. 

     For anyone who is interested in the history of northeastern New Mexico and southeastern Colorado in the later part of the nineteenth century, this is a book extremely worthy of your time. The same is true if you enjoy biographies of noteworthy people.

     I first heard of Sister Blandina from an elderly gentleman who frequented the same coffee shop I did. We struck up a coffee shop friendship when he saw I was a reader. Lou told me stories about this amazing woman, stories that came down through his family and through the history of Trinidad, Colorado. He knew about this book and wanted to find a copy for me, but that never happened.  I was thrilled to find a copy of it at the library just recently.

     Rosa Maria Segale was born into a loving Italian family that immigrated to Cinncinati when she was four years old. Sure of her calling at a young age and choosing to become Sister Blantina, at the age of 22 she was sent to the rough and tumble town of Trinidad to join a group of sisters already established there. Sister Blandina was so unfamiliar with the place she thought she was being sent to Cuba! And her adventure began the minute she boarded the first train heading west. It continued on for over twenty years as she served in various positions from Albuquerque to Trinidad before being summoned back east again.

     Member of a religious order or not, this lady was a trail blazer, and a liberated woman! Her leadership skills and her amazing capacity to get things accomplished - along with her sincere love of people of all types and backgrounds - became almost legendary in her time. 

     Case in point: The first school where Sister Blandina was to teach her young charges was in poor shape, poorly ventilated and entirely unsuitable even by rough frontier standards. No money, no materials? No problem! She simply got herself onto the roof of said building and began taking it apart. She asked the good father to announce at masses what was needed to put up a new one. Workers and materials appeared as out of no where. 

     Much of the narratives in this book are provided by letters Sister Blandina wrote to her sister in flesh and calling, Sister Justina Segale. Sometimes the timelines are fuzzy or not entirely correct.  A woman who worked from sun up to sun down to teach, nurse the sick, raise funds for various projects, and even prevent lynchings - a very common occurrence at the time - wrote sporadically on snippets of paper and organized or completed thoughts at a later time. 

     But there can be no doubt she knew situations, people, and environment from first hand experience.  Serving the God she had pledged her life to, she did so with heart and soul, taking every opportunity presented to her.  Desperatos respected her, rich and poor alike adored her, and those who came up against her usually found themselves on the losing end of the proposition. 

     There are things she mentions that are interesting from other standpoints too. For example, she talks about recommending that new staff sent to service in the higher elevations be sent to Trinidad before traveling south to Santa Fe or Albuquerque, in order to acclimate to the climate. Really? In my experience this adjustment is only severe for those suffering from ailments where they  easily experience oxygen deprivation. I wonder if perhaps diet had something to do with a normally healthy individual needing time to adjust to heights of 5,000 to 7,000 feet. 

     She also mentions the rainy season being from August into late fall.  That isn't a regular occurrence anymore either.

     This is only a sampling of the unique look into the past you get in Sister Blandina's memoirs.  Interested? As I write this post the kindle edition is priced at .99.