Loretto Motherhouse
Marion County, Marion County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Loretto. Motherhouse and Novitiate of the Sisters of Loretto, an American congregation founded in 1812 by Reverend Charles Nerinckx, dedicated to education of youth. Located on the site of home of Rev. Stephen T. Badin, the first priest ordained in U.S. (1793). Erected October 23, 1963. For more information, see ExploreKYHistory: The Loretto Sisters and Loretto, KY
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
In 1812, on the Kentucky frontier, Belgian-born missionary priest Charles Nerinckx founded the Sisters of Loretto, one of the first religious congregations of women established in the United States without ties to a European order. The community made education of children its calling, and its motherhouse rose on ground once home to Stephen T. Badin, the first Catholic priest ordained in the new nation. From this rural Marion County site, Loretto sisters would go on to teach across the American West.
Why it matters
The Sisters of Loretto represent the deep roots of Catholic education and women's religious life in frontier America, planted on Kentucky soil barely a generation after independence.
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Related people
- · Charles Nerinckx
- · Stephen T. Badin
Related events
- · Founding of the Sisters of Loretto
Themes & tags
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