Across God’s Frontiers: Catholic Sisters in the American West, 1850-1920

449 Pages·2012·13.251 MB·English

by  Anne M. Butler

Across God’s Frontiers
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Across God’s Frontiers
Catholic Sisters in the American West, 1850–1920
ANNE M. BUTLER
University of north Carolina Press • ChaPel hill
This volume was published with the assistance of the Greensboro Women’s
Fund of the University of North Carolina Press.
© 2012 the University of Founding Contributors: Linda Arnold Carlisle,
north Carolina Press Sally Schindel Cone, Anne Faircloth, Bonnie
McElveen Hunter, Linda Bullard Jennings, Janice J.
All rights reserved
Kerley (in honor of Margaret Supplee Smith),
Designed by
Nancy Rouzer May, and Betty Hughes Nichols.
Jacquline Johnson
Set in Adobe Caslon by The paper in this book meets the guidelines for
Tseng Information Systems, Inc. permanence and durability of the Committee on
Manufactured in the Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
United States of America Council on Library Resources.
The University of North Carolina Press has been a
member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in-
Publication Data
Butler, Anne M., 1938–
Across God’s frontiers : Catholic sisters in the
American West, 1850–1920 / Anne M. Butler.
 p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p.  ) and
index.
isBn 978-0-8078-3565-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Nuns—United States—West—History.
2. Monasticism and religious orders for women—
United States—West—History. 3. Monastic and
religious life of women—United States—West—
History. 4. Catholic Church—United States—
West—History. 5. West (U.S.)—History. 6. West
(U.S.)—Church history. I. Title.
BX4220.U6B88 2012
271′.90078—dc23
2012005083
16 15 14 13 12 5 4 3 2 1
With love and admiration
for my children,
Daniel Ryan Porterfield
and
Katherine Anne Porterfield
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Contents
Abbreviations for Religious Congregations of Women xi
Preface xiii
Introduction 1
ChaPter 1. Nuns for the West 13
ChaPter 2. Travels 43
ChaPter 3. The Labor 79
ChaPter 4. The Finances 117
ChaPter 5. Contests for Control 153
ChaPter 6. A Woman for the West:
Mother Katharine Drexel 191
ChaPter 7. Ethnic Intersections 231
ChaPter 8. Nuns of the West 267
ConClUsion . Nuns and Wests: Melding 303
Glossary 315
Notes 319
Bibliography 373
Index 395
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Illustrations
English Servants of Mary in Nebraska, 1893 16
A postulant for the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Missouri 21
A Sister of the Good Shepherd posing in a garden 40
An Oregon Sister of St. Mary and a Minnesota School Sister
of Notre Dame 50
Two Sisters of Loretto visiting Seven Falls in
Colorado Springs, Colorado 58
Daughters of Charity loading their luggage 77
School Sisters of Notre Dame harvesting beans 85
Two Sisters of the Holy Family leaving church together 107
A Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet with Native students in Arizona 115
Mother Kilian of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia posing with
a Wyoming Native American couple 133
A Dominican sister in Iowa standing amid her musical instruments
with one of her students 143
Canadian Sisters of Providence with dinner baskets 147
A Daughter of Charity standing outside of St. Mary’s Hospital,
Virginia City, Nevada 151
Three Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth posing on a rock
formation with a laywoman 171