Father Nerinckx and the Sisters of Loretto

Charles Nerinckx

Charles Nerinckx (1761-1824) was the oldest child of a Belgian physician. After attendance at the Catholic University in Louvain, Belgium, he entered the seminary at Mechlin. He was ordained a priest in 1785. His success with inspiring spiritual zeal in his parishioners was such that it grated on the irreligious nerves of the revolutionaries. He was proscribed and forced into hiding. At first he was able to minister to his parish at night but eventually he had to flee the area in the disguise of a peasant. For many months he lived secretly in the attic of a hospital run by his aunt. By day he prayed, studied, and wrote, and by night he went out to minister to the people. After four years of this, he volunteered for the American missions where he hoped to work openly and actively again.

After his arrival in the Fall of 1804, Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore appointed him to serve in the Kentucky section. He studied English at Georgetown and then set out with a group of Trappist monks headed to the same area. But they traveled too slowly for his patience, and so he made most of the journey alone, arriving on July 18, 1805 at St. Stephen's Farm, 60 miles south of Louisville (now the site of the Loretto Motherhouse.) Here was the residence of Reverend Stephen Theodore Badin, the first man to have been ordained a priest in the United States. Together they served the far flung Catholic peoples of the Kentucky region.

After seven years, Fr. Nerinckx began to reside at the log church of St. Charles on Hardin Creek but most often he was in the saddle as he made the rounds among all his churches. So many were they that it took six weeks to make one circuit.

Encouraged by a request from his bishop, Fr. Nerinckx strove to have equal success in establishing an educational society for young men. He purchased property and garnered support to go back to Europe to seek young men willing to live a vocation on the American frontier. Although his efforts to found a brotherhood failed, two of the young men who came with him went on to be Jesuit heroes of the young Church in America: Peter J. de Smet and J. F. Van Assche.

The activities of Father Nerinckx testify that he knew what power came from people working together. He committed himself to helping prayerful people share their faith. Children and adults joined his sodalities and confraternities. He founded the first Holy Name Society in the United States. There is evidence that he started a Negro oblate sisterhood in connection with the Sisters of Loretto. His concern was for the education of young slaves and he believed members of their own race could do this best. Several of these young women became aspirants in May, 1824. What became of his visionary effort is unknown as all mention of these girls disappeared upon his death when his successor consigneded all of Nerinckx's journals and papers to the fire. Other records that might have provided clues were lost when the Motherhouse burned in 1858.

Fr. Nerinckx worked at all levels in building the Church in Kentucky. Besides strengthening the associations between people, he provided his own manual labor in helping to construct 14 churches, mostly of logs. From his two trips back to Europe, he brought back paintings, sacred vessels, and other furnishings for their altars. Only the best would do for the tabernacles in his rustic little churches. Seen above are a reliquary and an exquisitely embroidered panel from his vestments and an embroidered chalice cover.

Others of his personal items were treasured by the Lorettos and are on display at the Motherhouse in the Charles Nerinckx alcove of the Memory Room. Symbolic of his many journeys are his wooden trunk and the compass he used in navigating the backwoods.

After many years, Father Nerinckx left Kentucky to journey among the Catholic people in Missouri. He began working with the Indians and enrolled some in his new school in Perry County. Visiting one settlement that had not seen a priest in two years, he fell ill and died in St. Genevieve, Missouri on August 12, 1824.

Repeated applications were made to the Bishop in St. Louis for his body to be returned to Kentucky and finally after ten years it was laid to rest in the Motherhouse cemetery. His grave now lies "at the foot of the cross" and it is flanked by the graves of the founding sisters, Ann and Mary Rhodes. The stone angels hovering above them direct all eyes to the crucifixion scene above his grave.

Mary Rhodes and the Origins

News of "these American sisters for American children" spread throughout the region. One girl walked all the way from Missouri to join them. By 1815 there were 14 members of the community. Within a year, the order began to establish schools in other settlements. Under Mother Mary, the order instituted a thorough program for teacher training that was completely in place by 1820. With all this in order, Mary chose to return to the rank and file of the rest of the sisters and another was elected to be "Dear Mother". But Mary had shown the path to which they would adhere. Their rallying thoughts always echoed Father Nerinckx's favorite saying: "Do not forsake Providence and He will not forsake you." The angel above her grave points to the crucifixion as a reminder of her life's dedication to the Foot of the Cross.