INTRODUCTION.



  We owe much to the Catholicity of Kentucky, and we
hold the brightest blossoming of it began when Father Ne-
rinckx summoned his spiritual daughters to dedicate their
lives to Jesus and His Sorrowing Mother.
  We see in their wondrous development since then an
evidence of their zeal then, of that vital faith and passion
for sacrifice which distinguished the founders, and which
remains with all the daughters of Loretto, at once their
heritage and their protection.
  In every western diocese to-day there are Catholics proud
to claim Kentucky as their mother State, and the Kentucky
Catholic, wherever he may go, yields to none in his tena-
ciously holding and loyally defending the Faith of his
Fathers. And equally so, practically every western diocese
boasts of one or more houses of the Loretto Sisterhood,
which it undoubtedly cherishes as among its most helpful
Sisterhoods.
  A teaching Order in the beginning, it has remained true
to its first love-its primary purpose.  It is still at the
frontier, where the battle of Christ is being fought-that
greatest battle of modern times, where the prizes are the
souls of children. The future of civilization and humanity
is largely dependent on the outcome.
  On your centennial our greetings go to you, the Sisters
of Loretto. We gave back to you from Missouri the ashes
of your Founder, but we want to retain his spirit and yours.

                            JOHN J. GLENNON,
                              Archbishop of St. Louis.
  St. Louis, Mo.,
    March 7, 1912.



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