Sister Blandina Segale, who co-founded the first hospitals and schools in New Mexico. Courtesy Palace of the Governors Photo Archives, Negative No. 67735
The life of Blandina Segale, better known in New Mexico as Sister Blandina, will be the basis for a television series here in New Mexico. Associated Press file photo
Sister Blandina Segale, who co-founded the first hospitals and schools in New Mexico, has been nominated for sainthood. Courtesy Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati
Sister Blandina Segale, who co-founded the first hospitals and schools in New Mexico. Courtesy Palace of the Governors Photo Archives, Negative No. 67735
The life of Blandina Segale, better known in New Mexico as Sister Blandina, will be the basis for a television series here in New Mexico. Associated Press file photo
Sister Blandina Segale, who co-founded the first hospitals and schools in New Mexico, has been nominated for sainthood. Courtesy Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati
She talked an angry mob in Trinidad, Colo., out of lynching a man implicated in a shooting. She co-founded schools and hospitals in the rough-and-tumble territory of New Mexico. A 1966 episode of CBS’ TV series Death Valley Days referred to her as the “fastest nun in the West.”
Now the life of Blandina Segale, better known in these parts as Sister Blandina, will be the basis for a television series that promises to enthrall audiences with Wild West exploits while also staying true to the story of nun who immigrated to the U.S. from a small Italian town in 1854, only to find herself in New Mexico Territory staring down armed outlaws — including Billy the Kid.
“It’s not a Hollywood dramatization of her story,” said Tomas Sanchez, director and co-producer on the project. “It’s really her story with a little touch of Hollywood.”
Sanchez, 47, a New Mexico native and a former stunt man who got into the production process with films like The Lost Pueblo, said he was inspired by Sister Blandina’s strong female character, laid out in a journal written to her sister and later published as a memoir, At the End of the Santa Fe Trail, on which the TV series will be based.
Documentary filmmaker Robert Young, 92, winner of the best first feature film at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival for Alambrista!, will be the creative consultant for the series, helping Sanchez and writer Ruby Rael of New Mexico develop Blandina’s character “and also keep it real,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said negotiations with “a couple” of companies are underway for distribution rights on the series, which will be called At the End of the Santa Fe Trail, after her book. He won’t names names but said companies such as Disney already have made offers.
Jennifer Sparks, a spokeswoman for the project, said principal filming will begin in October, and pre-production is underway. The cast, now undecided, will be announced soon, she said.
The series will employ 150 to 200 New Mexico residents, according to a news release sent out Tuesday, and 98 percent of the cast and crew will be from the state.
Saint Hood Productions LLC, an Albuquerque-based company co-owned by Sanchez and Mark Steinig, anticipates the series will create more than $1 million in revenue. Steinig, who owns Albuquerque-based Maleko Grip and Rigging, is also a New Mexico resident. Saint Hood Productions has applied to the New Mexico Film Office for rebates in anticipation of meeting local hiring standards for the taxpayer-financed film incentives, Sanchez said.
Saint Hood Productions, Sanchez Films and Steinig obtained book rights from the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, which will have a role in the editing process, Sanchez said.
Sparks said the series is a sign that the New Mexico community is maturing to the point of using in-state money to produce a series.
“Typically, the money comes from out of state,” she said.
Sanchez said he’s already rejected investment pitches from out of state because he wants this to be “a New Mexico project all around.”
Sanchez said Blandina’s story of a woman who helped build institutions like such as CHI St. Joseph’s Children — where he was born — reminds him of strong New Mexico women like his mother. As a stunt man, Sanchez said, he commonly portrayed drug dealers and bad guys. But Blandina’s story will give filmmakers the opportunity to tell a positive story of a woman who cared for the needy and disadvantaged, he said.
He’s turning to Allen Sanchez, president of CHI St. Joseph’s Children, for consulting help on the historical record of the peaceful nun. Allen Sanchez, no relation to Tomas Sanchez, knows much of Blandina’s record. He originally petitioned for her sainthood June 29, 2014. The Vatican has completed an initial investigatory phase on her life, Allen Sanchez said Tuesday, and is now assessing whether she committed any miracles to inform the church’s decision on whether she should be a saint.
Allen Sanchez said his research has found that Blandina built many New Mexico institutions, such as public schools, in her missionary work that was motivated by “creating goodwill for all.”
She saw good in everyone, including criminals, he said, and at the turn of the century convinced the Bernalillo County sheriff to empty the county jail to help build St. Joseph’s Children, which still carries on her mission today. None of the 41 inmates who helped dig for utility lines on the hospital escaped, Sanchez said.
He said Blandina’s stands against violence in the Wild West are particularly relevant in a modern America as gun violence continues to plague the country.
