Throughout the history of the United States, scores of children have arrived at our borders and ports in waves of humanity searching for freedom and safety. One such child was Maria Rosa Segale who, in 1855 at the age of 5, found herself arriving from Italy at the Port of New Orleans with her family, seeking a new home, with no knowledge of where they would settle as they traveled up the Mississippi. Ultimately, her family landed on the shores of the Ohio River in Cincinnati.

This little immigrant girl quickly learned the power of multiple cultures contributing to one society. At the age of 17, she entered the Congregation of The Sisters of Charity in Cincinnati. In 1872, at the age of 22, she was missioned to the new frontier of the West.