Who Do You Think You Are?

I don't know if any of you watch this television program, but I love to watch it. When Colleen was living at home, we often watched it together. It is like Hansel and Gretel following bread crumbs or Miss Marple solving a mystery, it is all so fascinating to me.

I learned more about Sr. Francis Loretto. The sister who replied to my email was very gracious and even included a document for me. She said, "...Sister Francis Loretto, S.S.J., who was a highly respected and great educator." The document lists Sr. Francis Loretto's birth place, parents, and her "missions". She received her A.B. in 1926 and her M.A. in 1936. In 1932 she was the Supervisor of SSJ schools in Philadelphia and in 1956 she was Supervisor of SSJ schools in Philadelphia and Newark, NJ.

So it looks as though teaching is in my blood from both sides of the family. She died in 1969 which makes sense to me because I remember getting a letter stating that when I sent a letter to her.

Now, what other bread crumbs will I find on my path? Who knows, but life is an adventure, so enjoy every minute!

Cousins

I heard from my cousin, Tom, and he attended I attended St. Augustine Indian Mission from the second to the eighth grades. "I remember the Blessed Sacrament nuns from my earliest years. I seem to recall a visit of the Mother General who I assume was Mother Drexel. I seem to recall being a relative rookie alter boy that was only allowed to carry unlit candles. They were replaced by The School Sisters of Notre Dame and lay teachers for my last couple of years."


"Most of the students lived at the school. We had two classrooms with four rows in each. The grades were organized by rows. All students had classes,and work periods. The boarding students had evening study halls. I was the second smartest in my eighth grade class, but that was of little merit as there were only two of us!"

It amazes me how history can come full circle and tie us together as family. I am sure that Kayla has no idea who Tom even is!

When I had a K, 1st, 2nd grade class, I used to complain about the planning. I cannot even imagine having to prepare for 4 grade levels!

I am blessed to have such a wonderful family and the age of technology to help bring us all together.

Mystery Solved

Yesterday I went to dinner with my brother, Pat, and his wife, Kathy, and we were discussing the Katharine Drexel mystery. I was saying that the only other link that I could think of was my aunt Adah. This is a picture of my mother and her sister, Adah, taken in 1964.

Adah lived and taught in Winnebago, NE. I remember visiting her often in the summers. Adah taught school in Winnebago. This morning I went to the Winnebago website to look at the history of the school. Well, here is the connection loud and clear. At first I was a bit discouraged because the first article is "Construction to build new convent for Missionary Benedictine Sisters", however, I continued on to the history section of the website.

"Nestled in the rolling hills of the northeast corner of Nebraska, St. Augustine Indian Mission and School has served the Native American people of the Winnebago and Omaha tribes since 1909. The roots reach deep into Catholic missionary history when elders of the Winnebago and Omaha nations contacted a local attorney to write a letter to the Bishop of Omaha, requesting that a school be built for their children. Bishop James O'Connor was uniquely prepared to meet their request." In our research it was Bishop James O'Connor that Katharine Drexel first contacted when she felt she had been called to become a nun. It is he who told her to wait and pray.

"As a priest in Philadelphia, he came to know the family of Katharine Drexel and soon became her spiritual leader. He watched her desire to serve the poor and her vocation grow. He also helped her to write the constitution of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, whose charter included building and staffing schools for Native American children.

In the spring of 1909, Mother Katharine Drexel arrived by train in Winnebago to personally oversee the construction of a church, rectory and dormitory / school for the children. The first classes were held in the fall of 1909. This woman, born into wealth, would use her fortune to help ensure a brighter future for the Native American children she loved.

Through the years, St. Augustine Indian Mission has touched the lives of thousands of Native American children and impacted the lives of their families. Today, St. Katharine Drexel's dream lives on, as the Mission continues to grow in excellence by celebrating and embracing culturally enriching programs and preparing students for a lifetime of inquiry and success. "

I am sorry to use so many quotes, but it is all important and interesting. It is now my thought that Adah probably gave me this prayer card on one of my visits to Winnebago. So, the mystery is probably solved. It is so interesting how the present can connect to the past so vividly. Also, how Kayla happened to pick this particular saint and how St. Katharine is linked to deafness. I find it all so very fascinating. Now, I need to contact my cousin, Tom, Adah's son to let him know what has been going on here in California.

Thank you to all of you who have been sharing this adventure with Kayla and I.

St Katharine Drexel

Anyone who knows me knows that family is everything to me. I treasure my family and feel that I have been given a true gift of having so many of them living right here in the San Diego area. One of the best attributes I enjoy of the Moran family is our sense of humor. The ability to tease, to laugh, and to enjoy life and add a little spark and thrill. I have a friend at school who always takes a little time in catching on to my humor, which even makes it all the more delightful. I must say that the Kelly side of the family also bears this attribute and I don't think anyone enjoys this more than my cousin, Cork.

How does all of this relate to St. Katharine Drexel? One might ask that as I ramble on about family, but the truth is that I have had a delightful weekend with my grandniece, Kayla. We have had many laughs and some fun times. I have the honor and priviledge to be her sponsor for Confirmation. Part of her assignment was to write a saint report. She had a little problem of settling on one saint, but finally decided on St. Katharine Drexel. Now, oddly enough, I found a prayer card for St. Katharine in my closet. I have many of the prayer cards of deceased relatives and she was among them.

Now, of course, this sent me on a bit of a journey. How and why did I have this prayer card? I contacted my cousin, Cork, in Wyoming to see if he remembered a nun on my mother's side of the family. I distinctly remember corresponding with a nun in the family when I was a girl. Could it have been Katharine Drexel? I did not think so. Then, I spoke with my brother, Pat, did he remember a nun? No, he had no recollection of any nun, where upon, he said I should not depend upon his memory of such things. (I did have to giggle.) Finally, I trudged up into the closet and got my O'Donnell family tree down. There it was Regina T. Conlin who became Sr. Francis Loretto, S.S.J. She was the daughter of Hugh John F. Conlin and Johanna C. O'Connell and was the cousin, I believe, of my grandmother. I thought that, perhaps, she was in the same order as St. Katharine Drexel and that is why I had the prayer card (dated 1959).

St. Katharine Drexel founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and worked with Native and African Americans. This is not the same order of sisters. I did, however, contact the Sisters of St. Joseph (who taught me at St. Agnes, but it was the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange) to ask if they had any information on Sr. Francis Loretto. Kayla and I continued to research St. Katharine and ended up losing what we had typed, which was my fault, but we all know that God works in mysterious ways. Kayla did some more reading when she went to bed and I hit the computer running in the morning.

To become a saint in the Catholic church one needs to go through a process of investigation and part of that process is two documented miracles. I researched the website for the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and found the two documented miracles for St. Katharine Drexel. Are you ready for this? They were both cures for deafness. How odd is that?

So the mystery still remains, why do I have those two prayer cards of St. Katharine Drexel? Now, Kayla has one of them to take home and I will keep the remaining one. I will await a reply from the archivist of the Sisters of St. Joseph to see if I hear anything back about Sr. Francis Loretto. Life is an adventure and a mystery!