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The nun who faced down Billy the Kid

Sister Blandina Segale was a nun who served in the wild West. Her exploits in frontier New Mexico are legion, including when she faced down Billy the Kid. Twice. She also battled the cruel treatment of Indians, worked with prisoners, tended the sick, and fought the sexual trafficking of women.

Now she is being considered for sainthood. Also for a TV series.

From Russell Contreras, Nun who defied Billy the Kid to be subject of TV series – Crux:

An Italian-born nun who once challenged Billy the Kid, calmed angry mobs, opened hospitals and schools in the American Southwest and is now on a path toward possible sainthood soon will be the subject of a TV series.

Saint Hood Productions based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is scheduled Wednesday to announce a new project around Sister Blandina Segale – a 19th-Century nun whose clashes with Old West outlaws and work with immigrants has been the stuff of legend.

At the End of the Santa Fe Trail aims to be a fictional account based on Segale’s life and largely will use material from her 1932 book with the same name. That book consisted of Segale’s letters she wrote to her sister about the lawlessness in Trinidad, Colorado, and in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

She also discussed working with immigrants and prisoners.

Her encounters with Old West outlaws later became the subject of an episode of the CBS series Death Valley Days, titled “The Fastest Nun in the West.”

According to one story, she received a tip that Billy the Kid was coming to her town to scalp four doctors who refused to treat his friend’s gunshot wound. Segale nursed the friend to health, and when Billy went to Trinidad to thank her, she convinced him to abandon his violent plan.

Allen Sanchez, president and CEO of CHI St. Joseph’s Children – an Albuquerque community health organization born of Segale’s work – said the nun is a perfect subject for a television series since many of the same issues she faced still resonate.

“She saw a divided country. She fought violence with nonviolence. She worked to stop discrimination against immigrants,” Sanchez said. “These are all things we are seeing today.”

The new production comes as Albuquerque has become a popular filming location for television series, ranging from AMC-TV’s Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul to NBC’s The Night Shift.

It also comes just as the Roman Catholic Church is examining Segale for sainthood.

In October, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe formally closed its inquiry on why the legendary nun should become a saint and sent its findings to the Vatican.

The public inquiry, headed by former Archbishop Michael Sheehan, was aimed at determining if there was enough evidence to move her case through the largely secret process at the Vatican.

Witnesses said Segale fought against the cruel treatment of American Indians and sought to stop the trafficking of women as sex slaves.

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