Mother Superior Pancratia
1860 Oldham, Kentucky hh 230
W D Whitlock 55 Virg
Mary 55 Ky
Nannie 19 Ky
Andrewella 17 Tenn
Mary L Bonfils 9 Missouri (living with her grandmother Mary McLaughlin)
Florissant; Baptêmes 1855-1899 209 St Louis, Missouri
February 20 1864
also Mary Josephine Bonfils daughter of Francis Bonfils and Maria Drionliava age 12
godmother Miss Uranie Morrel
1870 City of Denver, Arapahoe Co Colorado June 6, pg 14, St Mary's Academy hh 241
Mary Lewis 58 Ky
Mary Bonfils 18 Ky
1880 Denver, Arapahoe, Colorado, St Mary's Academy
Sister Pancratia 27 assistant teacher
1900 Petersburg, Arapahoe, Colorado, Loretta Academy No 54 to 97 inclusive hh 187
indexed as Ponoratia Bonfils Senior
Sr M Poncratia Bonfils Sept 1851 48 single MO fa Ala mo Tn teacher classes
1910 West Sheridan, Arapahoe, Colorado, Precinct 1, Sisters of Loretta
Pancratia M Bonfels, 58 MO fa Tn mo Virg teacher academy
The opening of Loretto Heights College was the greatest educational thrust of the Tihen years. The Sisters of Loretto had been pondering, ever since the 1880s, opening a college to complement their highly successful high school, St. Mary's Academy. In 1890, the sisters paid B.M. Morse $18,250 for a forty-five-acre hilltop in Southwest Denver, and on September 21, 1890, Mother Pancratia Bonfils and the sisters and pupils of St. Mary's Academy laid the cornerstone for Loretto Heights. The magnificent red sandstone school building, a $350,000 six-story structure, was designed by Denver's premier architect, Frank E. Edbrooke. The central tower, which rises ten stories above the five- foot-thick stone foundations, commands the skyline of Southwest Denver.
The North Central Association recognized Loretto Heights as a degree-granting college in 1925. Bishop Tihen spearheaded a 1928 campaign to build Pancratia Hall, a new building devoted solely to the high school. Completed in 1930, the high school structure was named for Sister Mary Pancratia Bonfils, long-time principal of St. Mary's Academy and founding superior of Loretto Heights. The large, $950,000 library was named for a generous benefactor, May Bonfils Stanton, as was the $1,550,000 performing arts center. In 1941, the high school was closed and Pancratia Hall converted to a dormitory for what emerged as the only fully accredited senior college for women in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico.
Loretto Heights, at last, had achieved the dream of its foundress—Mother Mary Pancratia Bonfils. She was the daughter of a prominent St. Louis physician, Francis S. Bonfils and a first cousin of Frederick G. Bonfils, the cofounder and long-time editor and publisher of The Denver Post. At age fifteen, she entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Loretto, the first order of nuns founded in the United States. After training at the Kentucky motherhouse, she was recruited by Bishop Machebeuf who brought her to St. Mary's Academy in Denver in 1868. After a thrilling stagecoach ride, the young nun first encountered Indians. Courageously, she offered them food, as she recalled later:
Oh! How I trembled when I first walked out to those fierce looking fellows. But I swallowed my fears and showed them I was their friend. And don t you know I really believe some of those painted fellows began to love me. They often gave me presents made by their own hands.
Sister Pancratia was appointed mother superior at St. Mary's in 1882. She oversaw construction of a fine new brick structure on the old St. Mary's campus at 15th and California streets and made St. Mary's the rival of any of Denver's other private schools, including Miss Wolcott's School and Wolfe Hall. In the 1890s, Mother Pancratia purchased land and, in 1911, opened a new home for St. Mary's on Pennsylvania Street in Capitol Hill. With great vision and faith, she also bought a forty-five-acre hilltop in the southwestern outskirts of Denver, where, in 1891, she opened Loretto Heights Academy. Mother Pancratia dreamed of the day when the Sisters of Loretto would conduct a Catholic women's college. Before she could realize this goal, she died on October 12, 1915, in St. Joseph Hospital. She had told her sisters, "I am now on the threshold of eternity, but I would like to do God's will, to work for Denver still." Her sisters carried out her wishes. In 1941, Loretto Heights dedicated Pancratia Hall to the remarkable nun who had done more than anyone to bring Catholic education to the ladies of Colorado.
1860 Oldham, Kentucky hh 230
W D Whitlock 55 Virg
Mary 55 Ky
Nannie 19 Ky
Andrewella 17 Tenn
Mary L Bonfils 9 Missouri (living with her grandmother Mary McLaughlin)
Florissant; Baptêmes 1855-1899 209 St Louis, Missouri
February 20 1864
also Mary Josephine Bonfils daughter of Francis Bonfils and Maria Drionliava age 12
godmother Miss Uranie Morrel
1870 City of Denver, Arapahoe Co Colorado June 6, pg 14, St Mary's Academy hh 241
Mary Lewis 58 Ky
Mary Bonfils 18 Ky
1880 Denver, Arapahoe, Colorado, St Mary's Academy
Sister Pancratia 27 assistant teacher
1900 Petersburg, Arapahoe, Colorado, Loretta Academy No 54 to 97 inclusive hh 187
indexed as Ponoratia Bonfils Senior
Sr M Poncratia Bonfils Sept 1851 48 single MO fa Ala mo Tn teacher classes
1910 West Sheridan, Arapahoe, Colorado, Precinct 1, Sisters of Loretta
Pancratia M Bonfels, 58 MO fa Tn mo Virg teacher academy
The opening of Loretto Heights College was the greatest educational thrust of the Tihen years. The Sisters of Loretto had been pondering, ever since the 1880s, opening a college to complement their highly successful high school, St. Mary's Academy. In 1890, the sisters paid B.M. Morse $18,250 for a forty-five-acre hilltop in Southwest Denver, and on September 21, 1890, Mother Pancratia Bonfils and the sisters and pupils of St. Mary's Academy laid the cornerstone for Loretto Heights. The magnificent red sandstone school building, a $350,000 six-story structure, was designed by Denver's premier architect, Frank E. Edbrooke. The central tower, which rises ten stories above the five- foot-thick stone foundations, commands the skyline of Southwest Denver.
The North Central Association recognized Loretto Heights as a degree-granting college in 1925. Bishop Tihen spearheaded a 1928 campaign to build Pancratia Hall, a new building devoted solely to the high school. Completed in 1930, the high school structure was named for Sister Mary Pancratia Bonfils, long-time principal of St. Mary's Academy and founding superior of Loretto Heights. The large, $950,000 library was named for a generous benefactor, May Bonfils Stanton, as was the $1,550,000 performing arts center. In 1941, the high school was closed and Pancratia Hall converted to a dormitory for what emerged as the only fully accredited senior college for women in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico.
Loretto Heights, at last, had achieved the dream of its foundress—Mother Mary Pancratia Bonfils. She was the daughter of a prominent St. Louis physician, Francis S. Bonfils and a first cousin of Frederick G. Bonfils, the cofounder and long-time editor and publisher of The Denver Post. At age fifteen, she entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Loretto, the first order of nuns founded in the United States. After training at the Kentucky motherhouse, she was recruited by Bishop Machebeuf who brought her to St. Mary's Academy in Denver in 1868. After a thrilling stagecoach ride, the young nun first encountered Indians. Courageously, she offered them food, as she recalled later:
Oh! How I trembled when I first walked out to those fierce looking fellows. But I swallowed my fears and showed them I was their friend. And don t you know I really believe some of those painted fellows began to love me. They often gave me presents made by their own hands.
Sister Pancratia was appointed mother superior at St. Mary's in 1882. She oversaw construction of a fine new brick structure on the old St. Mary's campus at 15th and California streets and made St. Mary's the rival of any of Denver's other private schools, including Miss Wolcott's School and Wolfe Hall. In the 1890s, Mother Pancratia purchased land and, in 1911, opened a new home for St. Mary's on Pennsylvania Street in Capitol Hill. With great vision and faith, she also bought a forty-five-acre hilltop in the southwestern outskirts of Denver, where, in 1891, she opened Loretto Heights Academy. Mother Pancratia dreamed of the day when the Sisters of Loretto would conduct a Catholic women's college. Before she could realize this goal, she died on October 12, 1915, in St. Joseph Hospital. She had told her sisters, "I am now on the threshold of eternity, but I would like to do God's will, to work for Denver still." Her sisters carried out her wishes. In 1941, Loretto Heights dedicated Pancratia Hall to the remarkable nun who had done more than anyone to bring Catholic education to the ladies of Colorado.
Mother Superior Pancratia
1860 Oldham, Kentucky hh 230
W D Whitlock 55 Virg
Mary 55 Ky
Nannie 19 Ky
Andrewella 17 Tenn
Mary L Bonfils 9 Missouri (living with her grandmother Mary McLaughlin)
Florissant; Baptêmes 1855-1899 209 St Louis, Missouri
February 20 1864
also Mary Josephine Bonfils daughter of Francis Bonfils and Maria Drionliava age 12
godmother Miss Uranie Morrel
1870 City of Denver, Arapahoe Co Colorado June 6, pg 14, St Mary's Academy hh 241
Mary Lewis 58 Ky
Mary Bonfils 18 Ky
1880 Denver, Arapahoe, Colorado, St Mary's Academy
Sister Pancratia 27 assistant teacher
1900 Petersburg, Arapahoe, Colorado, Loretta Academy No 54 to 97 inclusive hh 187
indexed as Ponoratia Bonfils Senior
Sr M Poncratia Bonfils Sept 1851 48 single MO fa Ala mo Tn teacher classes
1910 West Sheridan, Arapahoe, Colorado, Precinct 1, Sisters of Loretta
Pancratia M Bonfels, 58 MO fa Tn mo Virg teacher academy
The opening of Loretto Heights College was the greatest educational thrust of the Tihen years. The Sisters of Loretto had been pondering, ever since the 1880s, opening a college to complement their highly successful high school, St. Mary's Academy. In 1890, the sisters paid B.M. Morse $18,250 for a forty-five-acre hilltop in Southwest Denver, and on September 21, 1890, Mother Pancratia Bonfils and the sisters and pupils of St. Mary's Academy laid the cornerstone for Loretto Heights. The magnificent red sandstone school building, a $350,000 six-story structure, was designed by Denver's premier architect, Frank E. Edbrooke. The central tower, which rises ten stories above the five- foot-thick stone foundations, commands the skyline of Southwest Denver.
The North Central Association recognized Loretto Heights as a degree-granting college in 1925. Bishop Tihen spearheaded a 1928 campaign to build Pancratia Hall, a new building devoted solely to the high school. Completed in 1930, the high school structure was named for Sister Mary Pancratia Bonfils, long-time principal of St. Mary's Academy and founding superior of Loretto Heights. The large, $950,000 library was named for a generous benefactor, May Bonfils Stanton, as was the $1,550,000 performing arts center. In 1941, the high school was closed and Pancratia Hall converted to a dormitory for what emerged as the only fully accredited senior college for women in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico.
Loretto Heights, at last, had achieved the dream of its foundress—Mother Mary Pancratia Bonfils. She was the daughter of a prominent St. Louis physician, Francis S. Bonfils and a first cousin of Frederick G. Bonfils, the cofounder and long-time editor and publisher of The Denver Post. At age fifteen, she entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Loretto, the first order of nuns founded in the United States. After training at the Kentucky motherhouse, she was recruited by Bishop Machebeuf who brought her to St. Mary's Academy in Denver in 1868. After a thrilling stagecoach ride, the young nun first encountered Indians. Courageously, she offered them food, as she recalled later:
Oh! How I trembled when I first walked out to those fierce looking fellows. But I swallowed my fears and showed them I was their friend. And don t you know I really believe some of those painted fellows began to love me. They often gave me presents made by their own hands.
Sister Pancratia was appointed mother superior at St. Mary's in 1882. She oversaw construction of a fine new brick structure on the old St. Mary's campus at 15th and California streets and made St. Mary's the rival of any of Denver's other private schools, including Miss Wolcott's School and Wolfe Hall. In the 1890s, Mother Pancratia purchased land and, in 1911, opened a new home for St. Mary's on Pennsylvania Street in Capitol Hill. With great vision and faith, she also bought a forty-five-acre hilltop in the southwestern outskirts of Denver, where, in 1891, she opened Loretto Heights Academy. Mother Pancratia dreamed of the day when the Sisters of Loretto would conduct a Catholic women's college. Before she could realize this goal, she died on October 12, 1915, in St. Joseph Hospital. She had told her sisters, "I am now on the threshold of eternity, but I would like to do God's will, to work for Denver still." Her sisters carried out her wishes. In 1941, Loretto Heights dedicated Pancratia Hall to the remarkable nun who had done more than anyone to bring Catholic education to the ladies of Colorado.
1860 Oldham, Kentucky hh 230
W D Whitlock 55 Virg
Mary 55 Ky
Nannie 19 Ky
Andrewella 17 Tenn
Mary L Bonfils 9 Missouri (living with her grandmother Mary McLaughlin)
Florissant; Baptêmes 1855-1899 209 St Louis, Missouri
February 20 1864
also Mary Josephine Bonfils daughter of Francis Bonfils and Maria Drionliava age 12
godmother Miss Uranie Morrel
1870 City of Denver, Arapahoe Co Colorado June 6, pg 14, St Mary's Academy hh 241
Mary Lewis 58 Ky
Mary Bonfils 18 Ky
1880 Denver, Arapahoe, Colorado, St Mary's Academy
Sister Pancratia 27 assistant teacher
1900 Petersburg, Arapahoe, Colorado, Loretta Academy No 54 to 97 inclusive hh 187
indexed as Ponoratia Bonfils Senior
Sr M Poncratia Bonfils Sept 1851 48 single MO fa Ala mo Tn teacher classes
1910 West Sheridan, Arapahoe, Colorado, Precinct 1, Sisters of Loretta
Pancratia M Bonfels, 58 MO fa Tn mo Virg teacher academy
The opening of Loretto Heights College was the greatest educational thrust of the Tihen years. The Sisters of Loretto had been pondering, ever since the 1880s, opening a college to complement their highly successful high school, St. Mary's Academy. In 1890, the sisters paid B.M. Morse $18,250 for a forty-five-acre hilltop in Southwest Denver, and on September 21, 1890, Mother Pancratia Bonfils and the sisters and pupils of St. Mary's Academy laid the cornerstone for Loretto Heights. The magnificent red sandstone school building, a $350,000 six-story structure, was designed by Denver's premier architect, Frank E. Edbrooke. The central tower, which rises ten stories above the five- foot-thick stone foundations, commands the skyline of Southwest Denver.
The North Central Association recognized Loretto Heights as a degree-granting college in 1925. Bishop Tihen spearheaded a 1928 campaign to build Pancratia Hall, a new building devoted solely to the high school. Completed in 1930, the high school structure was named for Sister Mary Pancratia Bonfils, long-time principal of St. Mary's Academy and founding superior of Loretto Heights. The large, $950,000 library was named for a generous benefactor, May Bonfils Stanton, as was the $1,550,000 performing arts center. In 1941, the high school was closed and Pancratia Hall converted to a dormitory for what emerged as the only fully accredited senior college for women in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico.
Loretto Heights, at last, had achieved the dream of its foundress—Mother Mary Pancratia Bonfils. She was the daughter of a prominent St. Louis physician, Francis S. Bonfils and a first cousin of Frederick G. Bonfils, the cofounder and long-time editor and publisher of The Denver Post. At age fifteen, she entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Loretto, the first order of nuns founded in the United States. After training at the Kentucky motherhouse, she was recruited by Bishop Machebeuf who brought her to St. Mary's Academy in Denver in 1868. After a thrilling stagecoach ride, the young nun first encountered Indians. Courageously, she offered them food, as she recalled later:
Oh! How I trembled when I first walked out to those fierce looking fellows. But I swallowed my fears and showed them I was their friend. And don t you know I really believe some of those painted fellows began to love me. They often gave me presents made by their own hands.
Sister Pancratia was appointed mother superior at St. Mary's in 1882. She oversaw construction of a fine new brick structure on the old St. Mary's campus at 15th and California streets and made St. Mary's the rival of any of Denver's other private schools, including Miss Wolcott's School and Wolfe Hall. In the 1890s, Mother Pancratia purchased land and, in 1911, opened a new home for St. Mary's on Pennsylvania Street in Capitol Hill. With great vision and faith, she also bought a forty-five-acre hilltop in the southwestern outskirts of Denver, where, in 1891, she opened Loretto Heights Academy. Mother Pancratia dreamed of the day when the Sisters of Loretto would conduct a Catholic women's college. Before she could realize this goal, she died on October 12, 1915, in St. Joseph Hospital. She had told her sisters, "I am now on the threshold of eternity, but I would like to do God's will, to work for Denver still." Her sisters carried out her wishes. In 1941, Loretto Heights dedicated Pancratia Hall to the remarkable nun who had done more than anyone to bring Catholic education to the ladies of Colorado.
Gravesite Details
All of the sisters of Loretto Heights were moved to Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery 2022https://denverite.com/2022/07/07/as-loretto-heights-transforms-the-cemetery-of-its-buried-founders-moves-out-of-town-harvey-park-federal-boulevard/
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
