History of Loretto Academy

The story of the Sisters of Loretto begins with three women and a Belgian priest living on the Kentucky frontier. Father Charles Nerinckx had labored long and hard visiting the vast region under his pastoral care, building churches and community wherever he went. He attempted to start a religious order of women at one point but when the convent burned to the ground before they even moved in, the people saw it as a sign that it was not God's will and his dream ended. But God had other plans.

Three young women, Mary Rhodes, Nancy Havern and Cristina Stewart had  a very clear understanding of the needs of the people around them and a simple vision of something that they could do to make life on the Kentucky frontier better. That vision, nourished by prayer and the Holy Spirit, became the driving force that was to lead to the foundation of the Sisters of Loretto, a group of women of incredible imagination, leadership, strength and courage. The children of the area had no means of education and so it was with them that the work of these three women began. They set up their first school in an abandoned log cabin. Soon they were praying together and feeling a need for something more to nourish their faith life. They went to Fr. Nerinckx, expressing their desire to become a religious order. He wanted them to be trained in the traditional European ways but they rejected the idea and asked him to help them write their own rule of life. Thus, in April of 1812, when they took their first vows, they became the first fully American religious congregation. Unlike most groups in the country at the time, they had no European ties.

Their work and membership grew rapidly and they began to spread out into other areas of the Midwest. The call that brought them eventually to El Paso came with an invitation to serve in the Southwest through the voice of John Baptist Lamy, Bishop of Santa Fe, New Mexico. He saw in his diocese what the three foundresses saw in Kentucky - a great need for education. In June of 1852, six Sisters, who had at some point in their lives volunteered for the "foreign mission", traveled by steamer to Independence, Missouri, for the first leg of the long journey. Cholera broke out on the boat and Mother Mitilda, superior of the little group, died and was buried there. A second Sister also contracted the dread disease and was forced to stay behind though she did finally get to Santa Fe three years later.

Undaunted, the four remaining Sisters and Bishop Lamy headed out across the plains in their caravan of wagons. The journey included break-downs of the wagons, terrifying electrical storms in which they remained cooped up inside the covered wagons, and being surrounded by some three hundred Indians whose intentions were not entirely clear. The journey finally ended on September 26. When they entered Santa Fe, crowds of people lined the streets; there were specially constructed arches for them to pass under and Church bells rang out their welcome. They entered the Cathedral to give thanks by singing the Te Deum, accompanied, to their surprise, by violins and guitars instead of an organ.

Sister Magdalen became their superior, a woman who was to be well remembered in Santa Fe. She held that office from 1852 until 1881 and under her guidance, the work of the Sisters had expanded to Taos, Mora, Denver, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Las Cruces, Bernalillo, Socorro, and San Elizario. For all the Sisters it was like being transplanted into what was a truly foreign atmosphere for them. They had to learn Spanish immediately since their prospective students did not speak English. Their home was the traditional adobe with dirt floors and stretched muslin "window panes". The same room served as dormitory, study room and dining room. Mother Magdalen wrote to her sister: 

While I walked alone . . . I was deeply conscious of my utter loneliness in this strange land and of the great distance which separates me from every object which is dear to me in this world. Light in Yucca Land, p. 103 

It was the foundation of a school in San Elizario, Texas, that led to the establishment first of St. Joseph Academy and then Loretto Academy in El Paso. It came about through a request from Rev. Peter Bourgade, pastor of the church there. In 1879, Mother Magdalen sent five Sisters to open St. Joseph Academy in San Elizario. Sister Mary Bernard Doyle described her arrival in 1884 in this way.

We were met [at Franklin, now El Paso] by two Sisters in a canvasssed-top spring wagon. The driver looked like he had never known soap, water or a comb. Finally, we reached San Elizario after dark the same evening. When daylight dawned upon us, really my impressions were not very encouraging, as it seemed we had reached God's forsaken part of the world. Some of the rooms had mud floors and were swept with a bunch of broom straws tied together . . . the church had no pews, a mud floor, the highways were full of ruts and holes . . . Our boarding and day school began to increase, so I found myself very busy trying to teach music and classes. We were only five Sisters. We had twenty-five boarders which required a great deal of extra work. Light in Yucca Land, p. 93

In 1892, a decision was made to move the Sisters to El Paso. Mother Magdalen Deitz, was convinced through the arguments of a local doctor, Dr. Walter Vilas, that there was a great need for someone to take the place of the Irish Sisters of Mercy who had abandoned their educational efforts in El Paso. The idea captured the imagination of the Sisters and soon five wagons of furniture, followed by a carry-all full of boarders, arrived at the building that was to become St. Joseph Academy, located in the downtown area. 

It was not long until Father Pinto, a Jesuit priest who was anxious to open a school in his parish, Sacred Heart, asked the Sisters to staff his school. It was the first of many parish schools that the Sisters would eventually minister to in El Paso - St. Mary's, St. Patrick's, St. Joseph's, Guardian Angel, and Assumption.

The first bishop of El Paso, Bishop Schuler, was named in 1915. He was a great supporter of the educational movement begun by the Sisters of Loretto and knew there was now inadequate space in the St. Joseph's Academy building. He and Mother Praxedes Carty, the dynamo behind the construction of Loretto Academy, became good friends. She had been Superior General of the Sisters of Loretto before her appointment to El Paso in 1922 as local superior. She was well known as a builder from the very beginning of her career.

The first possible site for the new academy was on Arizona Street but it was deemed to be "too far out. No means of transportation! No street car". Mother Praxedes conferred with Joseph Morgan and Gus Trost before deciding on the Trowbridge property. It consisted of 29 lots and two bungalows adjoining the grounds for the school. Mr. Trost was entrusted with drawing up plans for the new building. 

The school opened its doors to students in September of 1923. St. Joseph Academy became a residence for the Sisters who were teaching in the parochial schools in the city and continued as a day school until 1954. In spite of the great financial hardships of the time, the building process moved forward allowing for the laying of the cornerstone of the chapel in March of 1924, which was named in honor of St. Joseph in fulfillment of a promise made when St. Joseph Academy in San Elizario closed. It took fourteen years to complete the three main units of Loretto Academy. The arrangement of its buildings, by design, face Mexico and reach out in a welcoming gesture. Mother Praxedes was tireless in her efforts to obtain monies for the effort. She traveled to St. Louis against doctor's orders to secure a loan of $80,000 for the completion of the project. While there, she slipped and broke her hip, an injury from which she never really fully recovered. She returned to El Paso and directed the building from her bed until she died in 1933. Bishop Schuler, her long-time friend, celebrated her funeral Mass.

Loretto Academy continued to grow in enrollment and to attract young women from Mexico and the surrounding states. Under the leadership of Sister Francetta, other buildings graced the campus - the cafeteria, elementary school, Hilton-Young Hall and the swimming pool. The convent housed nearly one hundred Sisters who staffed the Academy and various parochial schools throughout the city of El Paso. Boarders, from first through twelfth grade, lived on the third floor of the high school building. Many will remember with fondness, Sr. Rose Claire, who patiently taught so many little girls how to take care of their rooms and wash their clothes and her dear friend, Sister Teresa Claire, who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for so many years. The focus of all the Sisters was primarily in the area of education until Pope John XXIII called Vatican Council II in the early 1960's, the fresh air of which began to shape the ministry of the Sisters in new ways.

Some of the expanded works included ministry to the gangs in South El Paso, work with Girl's Club, ministry to the very poor, a school which prepared students to enter and be successful in the public school system, ministry to the deaf, a tutoring school, catechetical work, ministry to the elderly, teaching English as a second language, adult education, and pastoral ministry. Most recently, the convent has been converted to a retreat center, opening up another form of ministry.
 

The boarding school closed in 1975 and became a Middle School the following year. Though the number of Sisters has declined, there remains a very dedicated faculty who believe in what Loretto stands for and continue its mission.